#breha lives au

[varpusvaras]

Continuing on this post because I said in the tags that it goes together with the Codywan desert husbands au. I just think it would be really funny if neither Cody or Rex (or anyone of the surviving batch) knew that the others are alive, other than Fox.

Fox helps with the Rebellion, being a contact and such, because he is not that much in the limelight (Bail and Breha are taking care of that part), and he, of course, goes by a codename. He did recognise Rex, like, immediately when he heard about things going on with other clones leaving the Empire and such. He couldn’t give himself away, because there is still a risk that him getting recognised could lead to Bail and Breha being implied to be part of the Rebellion. Fox keeps an eye out on Rex though, to make sure he’s okay.

Then Leia gets kidnapped, they reach out to Obi-Wan, and Fox learns that Cody is alive and well as well. But because of the whole thing surrounding the twins, he decides that it’s the best to stay away still.

This leads to, eventually, Luke meeting up with Leia’s family after the Death Star and coming back to Cody and Rex like “...do you guys have a brother?” “Multiple, how’s so?” “Well I mean Leia’s dad looks a lot like you, so I just thought...” “....I didn’t think we looked much like Bail Organa?” “No, not him, the other dad!” “What other dad?” “The one who looks like you, this tall, grey hair, kinda looks like wants to murder you?” “....I swear to GOD -”

Fox hears the scream to the other side of the base.

“Leia, sweetie, do a solid for your old man?” “Okay?” “Kill me.”

[xxlittle0birdxx]

Leia pasted a public smile on her face. The kind that would have earned her an approving nod from her mother. Luke noticed it didn't reach her eyes. There was also something vaguely familiar about her. Something about the wealth of glossy brown hair and wide brown eyes reminded him of his mother. She certainly didn't resemble either of her parents. 'Hi,' he murmured. His arms tightened around the clone.

'Hello.' She couldn't keep her eyes off the toy in his arms, and he noticed.

'It's Commander Cody,' he told her with the beginnings of a shy smile. 'My father knew him.' He turned the toy around to display the clone's armor that he'd spent hours meticulously cleaning. Luke worked open the latches that held the helmet on and removed it. 'See?' He held the miniaturized Cody out to her. 'You can play with him,' he offered, almost drunk on the sheer novelty of the opportunity to interact with someone his age outside a holographic classroom setting. He'd only ever read about situations like this.

The disdainful curl of Leia's mouth grew more pronounced. 'I don't want to play with your doll.'

[kanansdume]

So I've seen plenty of Obi-Wan survives A New Hope AUs, where his relationship with Luke and Leia gets to develop more and he becomes a pseudo father figure in the absence of all four parental figures, and I LOVE THEM, I do, but consider:

Bail and Breha survive A New Hope.

Instead of deciding to try to make Leia give up where she sent the plans by blowing up Alderaan, they just go straight to Tatooine. They can be pretty certain she sent them there and all, and it's not like THEY need the plans, the Death Star's completed and they've probably got copies and stuff around somewhere, so they lose nothing by just blowing up Tatooine in an effort to just. Eliminate the plans. Keep them from ever getting to the Rebellion.

Obi-Wan, Luke, Han, and Chewie manage to make it off just in time, get immediately pulled in via tractor beam and everything kind-of goes as per canon from there. They rescue Leia, Obi-Wan dies, the plans get to the Rebellion and Luke destroys the Death Star.

And Alderaan survives. Bail and Breha survive.

But of course, part of the reason Alderaan was blown up was to serve as an example to the rest of the galaxy, an example of what happens if you defy the Empire, if you choose to help the Rebellion. But they no longer have a planet killer machine, so they have to come up with an alternate option.

Executing Bail and Breha will just turn them into martyrs, but they can occupy Alderaan, suffocate the people's resources, and place all the blame on Bail and Breha, turn Alderaan on its leaders for causing them all to be punished.

Breha saw it coming and insisted Bail leave to join the Rebellion before the Empire could show up, but Breha stays behind, imprisoned, taking the blame for the Empire's crimes as her people suffer.

But Luke gets to meet Bail. Bail who is Leia's father, Bail who knew Padme and Anakin, Bail who knew Obi-Wan, Bail who was there when Luke was born. Bail who knows the truth. Keeping Luke and Leia separated, keeping their knowledge of each other a secret, was done to keep them from catching the Empire's eye. But they've both made themselves targets now and they're already together, there's no separating them now, not without a damn good explanation and there's no benefit to it anyway. So Bail tells them the truth. A piece of it, anyway, because there's no harm in telling them that they're twins, children of Padme Naberrie and Anakin Skywalker, without having to admit to what Anakin has become, to what Anakin did.

Luke gets to spend three years with Bail Organa, with his twin sister's father, learning about his parents from someone who knew them personally, learning about Obi-Wan, the Jedi, the truth about what happened during the war with the Jedi and the Senate, the truth about the Jedi's annihilation.

And in the absence of Obi-Wan, Bail is perfectly capable of sending Luke to Yoda on Dagobah. Bail can obviously tell that Obi-Wan had started training Luke, but hadn't been able to complete it or even get very far with it. And they could do with a Jedi or two in the Rebellion these days. So he sends Luke and Leia to Dagobah, to Yoda, while he stays behind to help lead the Rebels.

Luke and Leia get THREE YEARS with Yoda on Dagobah, training, learning, getting stronger. Occasionally, they do rejoin the Rebellion for missions, always promising to come back to train again with Yoda, always keeping that promise.

Until Hoth, until Bespin, and Luke was the only one back to Yoda that time, Leia still got stuck with Han on the Falcon and ends up on Bespin. Except this time, Leia's got a lightsaber, Leia's got the Force, so Leia fights back. It's Leia who gets to hear the final truth that Bail held back, not Luke. Except Anakin's an idiot and doesn't know that Luke and Leia are twins, so what he tells Leia is that he is LUKE'S father. He sees Leia's horror and thinks that it's because she hates Luke now, she doesn't trust Luke now, he doesn't recognize what he's just told Leia. Leia isn't Luke, though, she's already made her peace with whoever her birth family may have been. She's got a father, a father who loves her, a father who's been THERE for her, a father who fights for what's right, a father who has given everything for the galaxy and for her. She doesn't need Anakin Skywalker, she never did.

So she wins that battle and throws Anakin down that shaft. He lives, of course, because he refuses to die, but Leia escapes because she wouldn't let that truth destroy her, turn her into someone she isn't. She is Leia Organa, and she knows who the fuck she is.

(Also, fun side effect of this AU, Han doesn't get carbon frozen because there's no Jabba anymore, he got vaporized on Tatooine, so there's no one to put out a bounty on Han for Boba to try to collect.)

Leia doesn't go back to Dagobah immediately, she goes back to the Rebellion, to Bail, because she needs to talk to him. She needs to ask him why he never trusted her with this information before she brings it to Luke. Bail tells her that it wasn't a lack of trust, but simply a father's selfish desire not to have to hurt his daughter if he didn't have to. He knows now that it was wrong to keep that information from her when she and Vader were going to keep meeting, it was wrong to keep this choice from her and give Vader the power to tell her instead of Bail. She demands the truth about Anakin and Padme, so Bail tells her what little he does know. He'd told them it was a secret affair, that Padme had tried to keep the pregnancy secret. But what he hadn't told them about was Polis Massa. He hadn't told them about Obi-Wan's recollection of what happened on Mustafar with Anakin. He hadn't told them about just how involved Anakin was in Order 66 and the annihilation of the Jedi and the Republic. He hadn't told them about the part Anakin had played in Padme's death.

When she tells Luke the truth, he's upset. He rages a little. But ultimately, he has the time and space to come to terms with it, he's got Leia to go through it with him, to help him through the way he feels about it. He's always been more connected to the idea of Anakin Skywalker than she was, always dreamed more about that perfect father figure than she'd needed to. But Luke works through it. With Yoda, with Leia, with Obi-Wan. They both head back to the Rebellion when it starts to feel like time, when Yoda dies and declares them as ready as they can be. Luke sees Bail, remembers Owen and Beru, and realizes that maybe Leia was right. Maybe he DOESN'T really need Anakin Skywalker. He doesn't need to define himself by someone who was never there, by someone who abandoned him.

But Bail had told Leia one last thing, and Leia had passed it on to Luke. Padme's final words. Leia had chosen to believe that it didn't really matter, Vader was a scourge upon the galaxy and she intended to protect the galaxy from that, rid the galaxy of that scourge, no matter what. But Luke remembers them. Luke doesn't NEED Anakin Skywalker, but he thinks that maybe Anakin Skywalker might need him. For his mother's sake, for Owen and Beru who'd let Luke believe the best, for Obi-Wan who had called him a good friend, for the grandmother he never met but who he'd heard so many stories about and who believed in her son so much she sent him away to a better life. He wants to try.

And when it's all over, and people around the galaxy cheer and celebrate, recently freed Breha Organa looks up at the sky, at the stars, hoping this means her husband will come home to her soon.

Bail Organa, surrounded by the people of Endor, the Rebellion he founded, and his daughter and son, looks up at the sky himself, waiting for the moment he can return home to Alderaan, and bring their whole family together for the first time.

[r0gerr0ger]

Once Again, I Have Meaning

Chapter One; Falling

[TW: mention of death below]

Leia falls. Like a Spirit with clipped wings. Like lead in water. Down and down and down. She feels nothing, and everything, fear and pain howling through her, a storm. Clawing behind her eyes, in her ears, in her stomach, her heart. She feels sick, she feels in pain. She feels like someone has shoved their hand down her throat and is gripping her heart, squeezing ‘til it bursts. Trapped. Falling. Dying- Let me, Leia begs. If only to end this. And then. No. Please. Please, I want to live.

~~~

Five years before an escape pod crash lands on Tatooine, a ship does, carrying with it a princess. Entrusted by her dying guard to the care of strangers, a journey begins. It'll be simple, she's told. You'll be home this time tomorrow, she's told.

[greyturned]

@ofpolitics​ sent:    ❛  run .   run  &  don’t  stop .  ❜  ( breha )

        FEAR GRIPPED HIS HEART AS HE CLUNG TO HIS GRANDMOTHER’S HAND,    their quick footsteps sounded deafening as they hurried through a secret corridor.      Ben wanted to look back and see what was behind him,    but that same fear kept him from doing so.      the dark of the night cast strange shadows across the glistening floors and towering walls and pillars around them,    making the air of danger even more stark.      he wondered if they were making for the ships,    and if his parents would be there to.      stars,    he hoped they were.      when his grandmother stopped suddenly,    Ben looked up at her with wide doe eyes,    which widened further when she took his face into her hands and told him to run.        ❝      what ---    no!      no,    i won’t leave you.      ❞

[t3mpest98]

Wing au where Fox is glowing, like literally his wings seem like they’re glowing, because he’s trying to seem more attractive to potential mates (Bail and Breha) but also at the same time he’s living under harsh conditions that make him less healthy meaning his wings might not be so vibrant

So the question is is he duller or more vibrant?

Or secret third option it cancels out so none of his brothers are able to see his wings and go “oh hey something isn’t right over here why are you so dull?” And also can’t tease him for trying to look so pretty

Edit: Glowing as in under the tetrachromatic range of vision, Bail and Breha cannot see this and Fox isn’t really aware that’s what’s going on akkdkf

[droolingvenus]

People Who Deserve To Kill Palpatine and Who They Have Celebratory Sex With On His Desk After

Commander Fox: Guys, you KNOW this man deserves to off his shitty boss, thus living the fantasy of many, many people. I think that Senator Chuchi is an obvious choice, but she strikes me as not quite that type of lady, she would consider it, but I think she'd be more scared about getting caught than turned on by the possibility of it. Quinlan Vos would definitely be game to bang on Palpatine's desk, and if not with Fox, well, the Senate building should invest in some Jedi-proofing security measures, Quinlan would also be the one to leave some kind of evidence. He wants someone to know there was people doing the dirty on the dead man's desk, he strikes me as the type to get off on a little law breaking being involved.

More under the cut!

Padme Amidala: This woman trusted Palpatine immensely, and though that trust didn't last until her death, she still never expected Palpatine to be that kind of corrupt. Depending on what way things went, Anakin and her would be there to kill Palpatine together or Padme would do it herself because he took her beloved husband away from her. Afterwards, she and Anakin defile Palpatine's desk, or his desk chair, or both, or she finds someone else, probably someone she has a history or affection for, and lets herself feel some good feelings, knowing that she at least got the biggest threat to her galaxy out of the picture. And she's probably getting good sex afterwards, so she enjoys the day.

Bo-Katan: Palpatine basically allowed Maul to kill her sister and terrorize her people, and what happens to Mandalore after the end of the Clone War? Horrific. Palpatine can rot in hell just for that. I think, if she had Pre Vizsla around somehow (AU maybe?) he would be her first choice, because I do believe that she loved him, no matter how misguided that love was. If Vizsla wasn't available, Obi-Wan would be an option in her mind, he was screwed over by Palpatine too and it might not be out of the question for him to be the one helping her kill Palpatine. Proximity to the location and each other, the adrenaline of assassinating a Sith Lord, it's plausible to me.

Pretty much everyone Clone Commander/Captain and their Jedi General: Definitely Cody and Obi-Wan would assassinate Palpatine if given the chance and then have passionate sex on the desk and desk chair to celebrate the occasion. Bly and Aayla probably wouldn't be the ones likely to do it in canon, but we ignore canon a lot around here, so I think they deserve to stab and shoot the hell out of the wrinkly bastard and then have sex on every possible surface in the office. Wolffe and Plo Koon deserve to assassinate Palpatine, but they would probably (Definitely) bring their own partners to do the deed with. Plo, for once, pulls his rank card so he gets first dibs on the defiling, and Wolffe concedes, though he was pouty about Plo not letting him go first.

Lastly for now, Bail and Breha Organa: Just because it wasn't predicted or known at the time that their planet would become an asteroid field doesn't mean that Bail and Breha don't have their anger and bitterness towards Palpatine. Yes, Bail and Breha can be imperfect, and I think they should be allowed to have sex on Palpatine's desk, and probably renew their wedding vows at some point, they seem like the type.

I might add more later, but these are the ones who came to my mind first!

[walkawaytall]

sometimes when you're supposed to be finishing the multichapter you've been working on for a year and a half and you are just so close you can practically taste it, you end up writing the prologue for an Organa Twins AU that's probably not going anywhere?

(But also might be something because I've already thought of how I want Luke, Han, and Chewie rescuing Leia from the Death Star to go down in this AU and it's real fun.)

“Pregnant, she must still appear. Hidden, safe, the children must be kept.”

“We must take them somewhere the Sith will not sense their presence.”

“My wife and I will take the babies. We've always talked of adopting. They will be loved with us.”

*****

When it came to disappearing entirely, Tatooine was as good a place as any. Ben Kenobi harbored no particular fondness for the planet, but it offered the sort of anonymity that was difficult to come by closer to the Core, and being in Hutt Space guaranteed some separation from Imperial officials.

Tatooine was also where it had all gone wrong and, as such, was the only place Ben could hope to find answers regarding how to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.

He was running out of time, though he had felt that way for nearly two decades. Two decades spent under the torturous heat of twin suns, searching for a why or a how. Two decades befriending his nearest neighbors in hopes that he would discover something that made what he knew make sense, that he might hear a story or a description preceded by Shmi said he always… that would cause everything to fit together.

Two decades paying penance for every move he had made that culminated in Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side.

It shouldn’t have taken two decades. He was supposed to have moved on, was supposed to have started training the children on some other backwater planet where they were unlikely to be discovered. In fact, Bail Organa had contacted him nearly ten years prior to inform him that, after months of careful observation, he and his wife, Breha, had determined that their daughter, Leia, was exceptionally good at keeping secrets — “not just good for a ten-year-old; good by any metric.” Leia’s twin, Luke, was…improving in that area, and should be adequately trained by the time the school term ended. They were preparing the children for a change in scenery for their instruction. What month did he think was best to begin?

That month certainly hadn’t been a good one, nor was the next. Ben still hadn’t determined what exact course of events had caused Anakin’s fall. He didn’t know if there was something genetically malevolent about the Skywalker line or if Anakin’s surroundings had played a significant part in his embracing of the Dark Side. If he didn’t know what caused it, how could he possibly prevent it from happening to another Padawan? How could he prevent Luke and Leia from turning?

Really, the entire year had ended up being bad timing, as had the next and the next. When Bail contacted him mere days after the twins’ fifteenth birthday, Ben had been fairly certain he would be ready the next time his old friend commed.

But he didn’t comm.

Ben didn’t pay much mind to the silence. He assumed Bail or Breha would get in touch again if they truly thought the children ready, and by then, Ben would be ready, too.

The next time he saw Bail’s face wasn’t through direct contact, but via a galactic news report being shown in a local cantina. The viceroy was announcing the date of his retirement from the Galactic Senate. He confirmed that, after an apparent landslide victory in an election on Alderaan, the pale young woman with big, brown eyes standing next to him would take his place.

Ben could hardly look at her for more than a few seconds before focusing his attention back on Bail. She looked like her mother.

He wondered how Bail could manage having the living, breathing reminder of the loss of Padme stare across the breakfast table at him every day. He could barely stand the mere memory of her ultimate fate. He still had dreams about her sixteen years after she’d breathed her final breaths, dreams in which she lived, dreams in which she died in a variety of ways, dreams in which she joined Anakin as he had wanted her to.

Leia spoke calmly and clearly, with fire simmering just under the surface of every word that reminded him simultaneously of all of her parents, both biological and adopted. Breha and Bail had clearly trained her to communicate well, though she possessed her own sort of easy charm and wry wit that Ben had no doubt had endeared her to the public.

He wondered about the boy, wondered what Luke was up to while his sister shackled herself to the impossible ideal of equitable politics. Bail had mentioned something about him learning to fly larger ships the last time they had spoken, and Ben had briefly wondered if the children were involved in the insurgent activity that he knew Bail continued to engage in.

Surely not. Bail and Breha were devoted to their causes, but they had always been protective of their children. They wouldn’t allow such young people to involve themselves in something as dangerous as the rebellion.

In the more than three years that had passed since Bail’s retirement announcement, Ben had hardly had to wonder what the twins were doing at any given moment. Leia was the darling of the Senate as far as the general populace was concerned, and it was no wonder: she spoke up for the poor and needy, raised the issue of abolishing slavery of all sentient species galaxy-wide as often as she was allowed, and routinely seemed to represent the interests not just of Alderaanians, but of any being who had struggled under the crushing hand of the Empire. They would never say so publicly, but Ben couldn’t imagine a galaxy in which at least two-thirds of her fellow senators didn’t despise her.

Luke’s presence was less obvious, but Ben gathered that the boy was acting as extra security when his sister traveled on her many diplomatic missions. Her transport was sometimes shown taking off or landing on one planet or another, and it was always flanked by a minimum of two X-wing starfighters. Luke appeared to be flying one of them every time Ben saw a report of Leia traveling.

They seemed to be doing well despite their lack of training. As a senator, Leia had no doubt met both Palpatine and Vader, and yet it seemed as if they were none the wiser. She was shielding her Force-sensitivity somehow, and since Luke appeared to be with her most of the time, Ben had to assume he was as well. They were better off without being trained by him, without ever knowing of their familial baggage.

He assumed he wouldn’t hear from the Organas again.

As spring slipped into summer on Tatooine, many locals shifted their habits to align with the evening hours. The days were barely tolerable during less-extreme seasons, but they were unbearable during the summer. Ben took to sleeping during daylight hours, the same way his neighbors did.

He was surprised to be woken by frantic knocking on his door a mere hour before midday. Ben squinted at his chrono a moment longer than usual to make sure he was reading the time correctly. He tried to ignore the knocking, but it only increased in volume and speed.

Something must be wrong, he thought as he hauled his aging body out of bed. Why anyone would come to him for help was beyond him, but he could at least see what they needed.

He swung the door to his small dwelling open and was immediately blinded by the midday suns. His vision took seconds to adjust, and he squinted at the person standing outside his home.

Blue eyes set beneath a mop of sandy hair met his. The young man was sunburned and covered in sand. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.

“Uncle Ben?”

[jessepinwheel]

What is the end of para? Or like how do you see the galaxy changing after the Empire collapses? Multiple dif regimes across the galaxy? What's Alderaan up to? Or Naboo since Padme is trusted enough to be a handler for a Mando-Jedi. Also love that Maul got the chance to be a Jedi <3

well, fundamentally the number of mandalorians is extremely overwhelmed by the number of worlds they've taken, and their main way of enforcing their rule was to send suppression forces when worlds were starting to do things they didn't like or weren't paying their tithes. without an efficient surveillance system, or with multiple worlds rebelling at once, they're really easily overwhelmed by sheer numbers

which is to say, after the coup the mandalorians communications systems are completely trashed, almost all of their leaders have been assassinated, their emperor is dead, and the darksaber has been destroyed. there's a huge power vacuum and a bunch of mandalorian clans break out into fighting for the throne. the mandalorian empire has also historically instituted limits on ship production and highly policed hyperlane traffic to stop people from occupied planets from leaving, which is really biting them in the ass and ends up stranding a lot of mandalorians due to not having a ride out or a way to call for one. basically this ends with a lot of fighting over resources because mandalore receives most of its food and other essential resources from tithes, which colonized worlds are no longer supplying. so they're basically killing each other and also starving to death because a society that's all warriors is, uh, not sustainable

a lot of worlds claimed by mandalore are able to regain full independence, including alderaan. bail and breha end up accepting a lot of refugees from mandalorian worlds, many of whom are non-mandalorians who were living in service to mandalorian clans and others who are mandalorians who agree to disarm. a little keldabe community ends up forming on alderaan, which is fine as long as none of the mandalorian refugees, y'know, kill people

naboo, which is also a highly established mandalorian world, is not doing great for similar reasons to mandalore itself, though it does have the benefit of being more self-sufficient with regards to food. it probably ends up as one of a handful of sanctuary worlds for empire mandalorians after the empire broke apart. for padme specifically, she presumably tries to launch an attack on a previously occupied world and ends up being arrested along with many other belligerent mandalorians who refuse to give up on the empire. she refuses to disarm and take the community service way out, sticking to her principles and the mandalorian empire

yeah, dathomir is outside the reach of the mandalorian empire, which is how maul and his brothers ended up with the jedi. (the nightsisters give force sensitive children every so often to the mandalorian empire effectively as a tithe to leave the rest of the planet alone, which is how ventress ended up there.) maul mostly stays in dagobah because his legs were injured in his fight vs qui-gon, and he runs the jedi's amateur theatre troupe (which he inherited from mace) as well as works with jocasta nu with archival work. he and obi-wan have pretty much had a weird rivalry all their lives, and maul was absolutely devastated when obi-wan got captured (and presumably killed).

ask me questions about parasitic extraction, the role reversal mandalorian empire au that I have

[varpusvaras]

Rex: One of my brothers also has two kids, eight and four, so like, similar enough ages to mine. And every time they come over, I get this wildly different experience. They come in and say "hello, uncle Rex", and I go, hello to you too. They ask, "where should we sit?", and I go, try one of the chairs. They say "we would like to color", and I go please. And then they sit down. And kriffing. Color. An HOUR later, I can go into that room, and they just be coloring like hum-hum-di-hum-hum. And I go like that's nice. Where are my twins? Are they in the house? Are they on the house? Are they under the hou- oh they're on the street, fantastic. I go out like what the kriff are you guys doing? And they're like "we broke all of the crayons and put them in the mailbox"

Rex: I've tried to ask Fox if he wants to exchange the kids but he said he doesn't want that Skywalker nonsense into his household and I'm like. Yeah.

[liptonrm]

Found this hiding in my google doc drafts. Just a little old school TFA OT3 fantasy au for everyone to enjoy

< - > < - >

They find the den, hidden, deep in the forest.

It had been Rey’s idea to go exploring. Not that Finn or Poe had needed much persuasion. It was too beautiful a day--the sun high, the air warm--to waste sitting in a dank room, puzzling over tax ledgers.

To be fair, they had lasted longer than their tutor had thought they would. Certainly longer than Prince Ben had, skulking off with his snivelling friend before the door had closed behind Ackbar’s feet.

The castle had many secret tunnels, whether by design, disuse, or damage after the war, and Rey knew all of them. It was easy for them to slip out into the wild wilderness beyond.

“It’ll be dangerous,” Finn said as they ran down the the back kitchen stairs, feet quiet, pace quick. His voice wasn’t afraid but matter-of-fact, stating it because he knew no one else would.

“I know.” A grin flickered over Rey’s face, eyes alight at the prospect of adventure. She slid into a shadow-hidden crevice behind the stairs, invisible if you didn’t know where to look for it.

Poe clapped him on the back as he followed Rey into the dark. “It’ll be fun,” Poe said, glancing back, with that smile that got them into and out of all kinds of trouble. “We’ll be back in time for dinner.”

“That’s what you said before the womp rats,” Finn replied, trying for stern but he couldn’t keep the laugh out of his voice. He shoved Poe’s shoulder, making him skip a step and laugh.

“That was amazing and you know it. You haven’t lived till you’ve tussled with a giant fire-breathing rodent.”

That laughter carried them through the dark, damp, winding tunnel, under the city wall and out into the deep forest that shadowed the towering mountains. The untrackable miles of dark and green had shrouded the Alderaanians in their exile, shielded them after Aldera’s destruction and Queen Breha’s valiant last stand, protected them from the Empire’s advance.

Some whispered that the forest was cursed, that it had taken more Alderaanian life than all of the Imperial forces combined. Others said it was their salvation, the forest’s price willingly paid. But all agreed that it was dangerous, full of vicious predators and poisonous traps and a silent, chilling malice that choked the very air.

They knew all of that, had been warned and ordered to leave the forest be. But it stood there, dangerous, exciting, beguiling, waiting to be explored. So that’s where they went, Rey and Finn and Poe, whenever a second to steal appeared in their day.

That day, in the twilight as one sun set and the other began its slow journey to the horizon, they explored--old paths rediscovered, new ones forged.

Finn noticed it first, a high-pitched keening whine, not yet a howl, though it tried to be.

[kbirbpods]

Voiceteam 2024 has brought about the need for a new pinned Dear Podficcer Letter! This is kind of a year-round one of sorts for ease of access. This are the fandoms/tropes/etc that I always love, not just what I am hyperfixated on! For events I tend to focus on hyperfixations + always have the section about what I will make outside of my wants ~

So, please look below the cut for my general letter.

Recent-ish letters: Purimgifts '24 | ITPE '23 | Summer Swap '23

Things I Like, Regardless of Fandom:

THEMES: trans/nonbinary characters (extra points for neopronouns); gender exploration in general; found family (genfic or otherwise); angst with a happy ending; polyamory; good asexual or aromantic representation; genfic

TROPES: fix-it fics!! extra points for time travel or time loops in fix its; fake dating/marriage; mutual pining; soulmates (AU or just clearly soulmates); crack treated seriously; rivals-to-friends/lovers; oops only one bed; secret identities

CROSSOVERS!

AUs: soulmates soulmates soulmates; regency era (or any different era); modern AU; crossovers, provided i know the other fandom or the fic doesn’t require knowledge of the other fandom!; college/sport AU; fantasy/fae AUs

Star Wars AUs/Tropes (yes they need their own categories): no Order-66/Order-66 happens differently; force sensitive clones; Jon Antilles lives; [insert clone here] lives; Anakin doesn’t fall; Palpatine dies; Domino Squad Lives; force sensitive Leia; modern AUs; trans clones

PODFIC SPECIFIC: anything epistolary (texting/chat fics especially but letters and such are also fun to explore); including music / SFX if you’re comfortable; including bloopers if you have them/are comfortable exposing them

RATINGS: Contrary to popular belief I do not hate explicit fics so really any rating but I generally prefer G-M because I can be picky about what explicit content I’m absorbing.

Do Not Wants (triggers, squicks, please no):

major archive warnings (major character death is okay so long as it’s temporary and resolved); unhappy endings; I really don’t like pregnancy, which includes MPREG (I like omegaverse dynamics minus that aspect) - kidfic is cool I just don’t want pregnancy as a theme & especially not graphic depictions of it; suicide/self-harm “on screen” (mentions of past suicidal ideation/self harm are fine if not a flashback/graphic); non-/dub-con or any depictions of rape (once again, recovery is okay if done well); adult/minor relationships or relationships with unaddressed/starkly imbalanced power dynamics; any sort of poorly depicted mental health tropes (no BPD or other personality disorder bashing, no institutionalization, no “split personality” as a trope) - i really like explorations of PTSD/trauma but it has to be handled with fidelity and gentleness; and I have a random trigger about cockroaches

as a note: I do not like slave!fic but acknowledge that the situation of the clones is, at it’s core, a form of slavery. so while i ask for slave!fic AUs to be fully avoided, I do appreciate fics that tackle that aspect of the Clone Wars series with tact, fidelity, and honesty.

Fandoms & Characters I Would Love to Receive:

Star Wars: I love so much Star Wars that to split them like I did on AO3 would make this post too long. I think it’s easiest to say this: I prefer Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One/Andor, anything about Jon Antilles, anything about Hevy & the Domino Squad, anything Ahsoka Tano, Mandalorian culture (including Din & Grogu content!), and Mandoa as a language.

My main ships are: Cody/Obi-Wan, Kallus/Zeb, Hevy/anyone (consensual), Finn/Poe or Finn/Poe/Rey, blackkat rarepairs (mainly Jon Antilles/anyone), Jon Antilles & Fay (platonic), Waxer/Boil, Fives/Echo, Kanan/Hera, Quinlan/Fox(/Jon), Quinlan/Obi-Wan(/Cody), & Fox/Bail/Breha [also Clone OC ships!!] My favorite characters are: Hevy, Fox, Cody, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Leia, Poe, Fives, Luke, Jon Antilles, Fay (Legends)

Ted Lasso: My favorite ships are Roy/Keeley/Jamie, Ted/Trent, Roy/Keeley, and Jamie/Dani. Ted & Rebecca as platonic soulmates/besties in general. I love explorations of how much Dr. Jacob sucks and fix-its for the ending!

Batfam/DC: I can be picky and yet not? Basically, I just prefer no inner-Batfam fics of the boys because I truly view them as brothers. Jason is my boy forever & always. My favorite ships are Jason Todd/Roy Harper(/Kori), Dick Grayson/Wally West, Harley/Ivy, Tim Drake/Kon, Tim/Bernard, Tim/Kon/Bernard, and Wally/Artemis from Young Justice. This is the fandom that I specifically am obsessed with found family in. – I love exploring Alfred being the boys’ Grandpa and Bruce’s complex dadhood!

The Locked Tomb: I’m definitely Gideon/Harrow on main; I really like fics where one or both of them are trans/nonbinary. Nona is my favorite character so explorations of her found family (the household or the friends or all of them) are important to me. Cam/Pal is important to me. I love modern AUs a lot.

Our Flag Means Death: Obviously Blackbeard/Stede is a big deal and I ship it forever. But my heart belongs to Jim/Olu and any explorations of Jim’s gender identity! Pining Izzy Hands makes me weak, as long as he’s not being abusive towards Edward or Stede, so Izzy/Ed or Izzy/Ed/Stede is always choice.

ATLA: Always and forever a Zuko/Sokka shipper, specifically obsessed with found family in this, gen fic exploring the universe at all is super important to me!!!

All for the Game: Jean/Jeremy forever and always. I will always always eat up Jerejean fics. Of course Andrew/Neil. Renee/Allison. Andrew/Neil/Kevin is perfection. And really just... Gen fics around the Foxes or Trojans will always bring me so much joy.

A RARE ASK: I am super into both Dragon Age & Mass Effect. The former is much easier to find fandom for and there are a lot of fics with blanket permission statements. For Dragon Age, DA:O is my favorite (especially Alistair) or any sort of Hawke!centric fics. But in April 2024 I became re-obsessed with Mass Effect & anticipate it lasting a while. My rare ask is for Mass Effect fics - specifically Shep/Garrus or Shep/Liara (or them as a triad). Or gen fic!! But I feel like I am on an island here lol

MISC OTHERS: The Old Guard; First Kill; The Adventure Zone (Balance & Amnesty); Red, White and Royal Blue; Good Omens; The Tarot Sequence; Teen Wolf; Fallout (New Vegas, Fo4, & the show); Legend of Zelda; and Buffy (especially genfic & crossovers).

Authors with BP that I love, as a starting point:

Flowerparrish, trixree, wanderingjedihistorian, hoebiwan, blackkat, cac0daemonia, elismor_aswell, SunsetsOverLA, friendoftheJabberwock

[r0gerr0ger]

Once Again, I Have Meaning

Chapter Seven; A Smile

It's like she’s a thousand pieces. One part of her is still stuck back on Vor Deo, in her white ceremonial dress and braided crown, sat beside her father for the Conference dinner. Another part of her falls, down and down and down. Another chokes on smoke, wet with Mina’s blood, clinging still to her friend. And another, walking across endless sand beneath twin suns, trapped under a cloak in a busy market, down a dark alley watching Noha walk off to his death. Waiting for a smuggler to come out of his ship.

[kitkatt0430]

A Star Wars Sequel series AU idea

Ben Solo wasn't Han and Leia's only child. They had a daughter too, but around the same time that news broke that Leia was Darth Vader's biological daughter, that little toddler girl was kidnapped. They never found her and it was the first big crack in the foundation of Han and Leia's marriage. When Ben turned to the dark side, they ended up drifting apart. Leia becoming more involved in the political movement opposing the First Order and Han returning to his smuggling roots.

TFA events are largely unchanged, but Rey doesn't immediately head out after Luke. They wait for Finn to recover, then Leia sends Rey with Finn, Chewie, Poe, and R2 to track down Luke.

Now, Luke is not the 'last' of the Jedi. Not only is Leia trained as a Jedi, but there are various others who are members of a new Jedi Order. It's not what the old Order was, but so much of that history was deliberately lost that they couldn't recreate the exact same thing from before. Ben Solo's defection killed off a number of the order, so they're all currently spread across the galaxy. Some searching out new force sensitives to teach, others using their abilities to help people in need...

Luke, specifically, went in search of the origins of the Jedi. He entrusted his flight plan to very few in order to keep the growing First Order off his back... but also to keep his other objective from being found out. He didn't want to give Leia false hope after failing to find her missing daughter all those years ago. But new clues have surfaced recently and there are a handful of planets where they might be able to pick up clues to his missing niece's whereabouts.

One of those worlds was Jakku where Luke's friend - but not a Jedi himself - Lor San Tekka has been scouring for records of a girl matching Breha Solo's description having been taken through one of the many spaceports some sixteen or seventeen years ago. And he's not only found that evidence... he thinks that girl is still on the planet.

He gives this information along with the map to Poe, as the First Order has been taking an interest in Jakku and it's only a matter of time before they show up... a matter of time being mere minutes in this case.

When R2 wakes up and displays the map, he keeps the other information private. it's coded specifically for Luke. But Leia, and even Han before he died, felt a connection the young woman from Jakku.

Leia wonders, if her daughter was still alive, would she be something like Rey? Han wishes he'd been the kind of father who could protect his children, but maybe there's still something he can do to make this girl's life better?

Luke's been setting up his secret enclave Jedi school in a system similar to the Corellian system (as in, it's artificially created and maintained) where he has reason to believe the Jedi originated in the time following the fall of the Rakatan Infinite Empire, long before the rise of the First Republic. The Ancient precursors to the Jedi believed in, and taught, the balance between the light and the dark and the necessity of followers of both paths, something the Jedi eventually lost. For all that they believed in balance, by making the dark side something forbidden and taboo they may have inadvertently created an imbalance of the Force. He still has a lot to learn about the origins of the Jedi, though, so a lot of what he's deciphered is still speculative at best.

This is where Rey and Finn find him, along with R2, Poe, and Chewie. And Luke welcomes them. Though of course he's especially excited to have two more students to learn the ways of the Force. And then R2 delivers his second message from Lor San Tekka.

He found the girl, Breha Solo. He's sure of it. She was brought to Jakku and sold as an indentured servant to one of the local scrapyard owners: Unkar Plutt. She'd earned her freedom at the age of sixteen but was rumored to still be on planet, living as a scavenger. Going by the name Rey, which Tekka suspected was a child's derivation of Breha.

Rey, the girl that Leia just sent to Luke for training...

[firealder2005]

Whumpcember 2022 Day. 30 THE END IS NIGH

Part 4 of my ANH AU!

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43752286

Enjoy!

```

Leia wondered if Tarkin had forgotten about her.

She didn’t know if that would be a good or bad thing.

Good, since she wouldn’t have to see the smug-faced bastard, but bad since whatever had taken his attention could not have been good.

It must be doubly bad since it seemed to have occupied Darth Vader’s time too - he wouldn’t have let her execution go off schedule.

He certainly had no problem with senseless slaughter…

Alderaan’s beautiful green and blue coloring from space drifted into her mind’s eyes, and she squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the feeling of despair away.

She couldn’t mourn her planet, people, and parents now.

Leia had to stay strong, to show she was undaunted, untamed still by the Empire’s mercilessness.

Darth Vader himself had tortured her.

Grand Moff Tarkin had obliterated her home.

But she would not break, she would not give in.

Because that was not who she was.

As long as she had hope, the Rebellion would live on. They would live to bring justice to her people, and all the other planets suffering under the Empire’s regime.

She had often heard Cassian Andor (may he rest in peace) say that Rebellions were built on hope, and she agreed whole-heartedly.

She jolted and fixed a stern glare on her face as the door to her cell opened, revealing a rather short stormtrooper.

“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” she snarked.

“Huh?” the trooper said. “Oh, right, the helmet…” surprisingly, the trooper took the helmet off and revealed the face of a boy around her age, with shaggy, sun-bleached blonde hair and startling blue eyes.

“Princess Leia?” he asked.

Leia raised a brow, and nodded.

“I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you,” the boy quickly said, glancing behind him. “I came with Ben Kenobi-”

“General Kenobi’s here?” Leia asked, startled and pleased as she shot up onto her feet. Ben had gotten her message! R2 did it!

“Yes,” Luke replied. “We have to move fast, because the pilots who were taking us to Alderaan have been imprisoned too.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Leia ordered, smartly adjusting the folds of her dress and marched out of the cell. Luke followed her out, and nearly crashed into her back as she froze - in joy and horror.

The former emotion came from the sight of the still tired-looking Obi-Wan Kenobi (did he ever take that nap she told him to do?), and the latter from the arms-crossed form of Darth Vader, who looked rather sulky(?) at the moment.

“Hello Leia,” Ben sighed as he turned his back on Darth Vader . “It’s good to see you again.”

Leia’s mouth had opened from the shock of this sight, and Luke rocked back and forth on his heels.

“Um,” he said. “You know Ben too, huh?”

Leia nodded faintly, the phantom pains of fire running through her veins as she stared warily at Vader.

What. Was. Going. On.

“Leia, I hate to drop this on you like this,” Ben winced. “But may I introduce you to your twin brother?” he vaguely waved a hand at Luke, and Leia swiveled her head around to meet the blonde’s sheepish and nervous expression.

She had…a brother?

She hadn’t lost all her family after all?

She suddenly gasped, whipping around on Ben, and exclaimed; “Was he who you’ve been with for all these years?”

Ben had a soft smile on his face. “Yes, I have been protecting Luke all his life - minus the days I spent saving your life.” the smile turned genuine. “I seem to be doomed to prevent Skywalkers from killing themselves.”

Leia’s brain froze.

Skywalker.

That’s right - that’s Luke’s last name.

Which meant her birth father was…Anakin Skywalker.

Wow.

She would always call Bail and Breha Organa her parents, and she loved them fiercely, and she had never really been all that interested in her biological parents, but there was a sense of connection to hear her birth father’s name.

“If we’re all done ,” Vader’s impatient voice made Leia tense, and she blinked as Luke’s hand rubbed her arm. She glanced at him, curious, and he seemed to be avoiding looking at Vader as much as she was. “I thought Luke had some “friends” he wanted to rescue.”

Leia glanced inquiring at Ben. Why was Vader helping them?

“I’ll explain later,” Ben promised quietly as Vader turned on his heels and quickly walked off. Leia warily followed, sticking close to Luke’s side, as Vader savagely punched in a code into two other cells and stepped aside before the doors opened.

Luke ran into the closest one to them, and Leia heard his light laugh and a happy, warm growl from inside. Her brother (brother!) came back out with the lumbering form of a Wookie.

She blinked. Her brother sure had a variety of friends.

In the second cell, a human male basically threw himself out, fist aloft as he gave a challenging yell - before pausing at Luke being hugged by the Wookie, Ben’s amused, tired expression, and her unimpressed one.

The man opened his mouth, looking briefly confused, before blurting out; “What the kriff’s going on?”

“You are being rescued,” Vader said from behind him, and the man yelped and spun around, stumbling backwards and nearly toppling into Ben in the process. “Why I am aiding your escape is none of your concern, and I advise you to take it .”

“Hi Han!” Luke called as the Wookie gently set him down. “You okay?”

The man, Han, slowly tore his gaze from Vader and looked disbelievingly at Luke. “Okay, if this is some big plot to get me to believe in the Force, you may have convinced me because how in the nine Corellian hells did you get him to help you?” he gestured wildly to Vader’s immovable form that seemed just as unimpressed as Leia did.

She shuddered at that comparison.

Luke exchanged a look with Ben, and shrugged. “It’s a long story.”

Han seemed to be struck speechless, but at the Wookie’s growl, he shook himself out of it. “Okay, okay, right,” he muttered. “I’m not gonna look a gift bantha in the mouth. We gotta find our weapons and get to my ship.”

“Down the corridor, and in the safe.” Vader emotionlessly answered, sticking his thumb over his shoulder. “Luke’s lightsaber, the Wookie’s bowcaster, and your assortment of blasters and vibroblades are in it. Don’t procrastinate.”

Han slowly raised his hands up. “Alright, alright, come on Chewie, Luke. Time to get our stuff back!”

Luke gave Leia a smile before handing his stormtrooper helmet to Ben and rushing off after Han. Leia furrowed her brows when she saw there were no Imperial officers or stormtroopers present.

Huh.

She crossed her arms and stalked past Vader, training herself to not respond to his presence. She was still suspicious about his help, and would treat what he said like she would a loaded blaster, but she wasn’t stupid to use what help she could.

Luke had discarded the stormtrooper armor and was fiddling with an object she recognized as a lightsaber. He turned it on, and a blade as vividly blue as Ben’s fizzled into existence. Luke had a small smile on his face, but it seemed to be tinged with sadness.

“Nice lightsaber,” she told her brother, bumping her shoulder into his.

“Thanks,” he replied. “It was my - our - dad’s.” his eyes darted nervously over to Vader.

“Really?” she asked. “Anakin Skywalker’s?” Luke hummed, and disengaged the blade before clipping it to his belt.

“Ben gave it to me before we left Tatooine,” he explained as everyone crowded into the turbolift.

“That’s nice,” Leia wistfully said. She wished she had a memento of her parents, like her mother’s amethyst earrings, or her father’s long, blue Senatorial cloak.

Anything to remember them by.

But it was all destroyed on Alderaan.

Luke once more glanced at Vader, and that’s when Leia noticed the rising tension in the turbolift. But Ben and the Sith were stiff, facing forward, while Han and poor Chewie were stuck in between them.

“Did you even have a plan?” Ben tersely asked.

“Yes.” Vader bit back sharply - almost defensively, Leia noticed with a raised brow. She exchanged a look with Luke as Vader continued; “I will go on ahead and demand another meeting with Tarkin for Luke’s custody - he will deny it, and you will all use that time to get to the smuggler’s garbage bin of a ship.”

Han’s offended “Hey!” was drowned out by Ben’s annoyed sigh.

“It’s always by halves with you, isn’t it?” he muttered. “You don’t think Tarkin or the Emperor will be suspicious of Luke, Leia, Captain Solo, and Chewbacca’s miraculous escape?”

“I will blame it on you.” Vader shot back with zero hesitation.

“Even in my prime I wouldn’t have been able to do such a thing.”

“You sell yourself short - you have been escaping my grasp for nearly two decades. It’s not much of a stretch to believe you could do it again along with many others.”

“You think too highly of me, Darth.”

Leia shot a disbelieving look with her companions. What was going on ?

“Okay!” Han then shouted with a wave of his hand. “Let’s just do his Sithyness’s plan since it’s the only one we got!”

“ Sithyness ?” Vader scowled as Leia snickered. Luke had a smile while Chewie gaffled with laughter. “You won’t call me that again, Solo , unless you want your windpipe crushed.”

Han stared at Vader. “I’ll remember to write that down.”

Chewie rumbled something, and Han scoffed. “I do not! ”

“If he asked if you have a death wish,” Leia deadpanned. “I think he’s right.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion , Your Worshipfulness!” the smuggler shot back.

“Announcing it to the entire turbolift is an invitation, nerf-herder .”

Han scowled before turning to Luke, who seemed to be trying to hide in Chewie’s shaggy, brown fur. “I really hope that reward’s gonna be worth it, kid.”

“If money’s all you care about,” Leia tartly butted in. “Then money is what you’ll get. I doubt you even care about anything but yourself.”

Han opened his mouth to argue back, but Ben slapped his hand over it as the turbolift doors opened and Vader stepped out, towering in the doorway as he scanned to hallways.

“It’s clear,” he rumbled. “Make your way back to the hangar. Leave Tarkin to me.”

Han wasted no time to leave the turbolift, with Chewie bending over to accommodate his gargantuan height. Ben exited next, and Vader snapped his mask to him and lowly hissed; “You better keep them safe, Kenobi. If not…” he clenched his hand. “There is nowhere you can hide that’ll keep you safe from me.”

Ben gazed sadly at Vader. “Believe me,” he murmured. “I would punish myself if I ever let anything happen to them.”

Leia and Luke exited last, and Leia curiously glanced at Vader and Ben.

They seemed to have struck an agreement that resulted in Vader helping them.

Luke seemed to hesitate, looking back over his shoulder at Vader, who was staring intently at both him and Leia.

Leia grabbed Luke’s hand and gently pulled him along, and saw Vader slowly turn away to go confront Tarkin.

Whatever the reason on why Vader had helped them, she wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.

They had the plans for the abomination they were on, and they were going to destroy it.

For Alderaan.

For the Rebellion.

The destruction of the Empire was near.

She could feel it.

[galaxyfcrged]

i know it's non canonical and would have to be its whole little au who knows how things would go differently but i really really really want some threads / plot where either padme lives and leia gets raised by her, or leia gets delivered to vader and learns about him and padme that way, or maybe an au where ben raises leia ?? or maybe even something with bail and breha where they want her to know the truth or idek but i really really really want some threads where baby leia gets to ask all the questions and learns all about padme and anakin and gets to hear all the stories about them good and bad and faces her life with that knowledge of where she comes from and what she might be capable of and has those stories of padme and her compassion and strength and the histories of naboo and the stories of anakin and his history even with the things he's done and who he's become

just imagine what it could be like what might've happened if leia had been armed with all that knowledge and history when she'd come face to face with vader like the son saving the father the whole thing coming full circle okay i get it but the power of a daughter's love, padme's daughter, refusing to back down or be afraid of him and just ?????

i need it from start to finish okay