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jackdaw-kraai · 3 years

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[pokes my head out from under a pile of nonsense thoughts] what if Canon!Vader met Guides!Vader?

(It's 1am and I'm feeling it, don't mind me🛌🤳)

O o f. Well, that’s a can of worms, nonny, and has multiple answers depending on where in the timelines it happens. For simplicity’s sake and to save my poor typing fingers, I’ll be taking one Vader from the Guides Verse, the one in the last installment of the Interlude arc, and measure him up against various instances of the OT. Cool? Cool. Let’s roll.

For reference sake, the Vader from the Guides Verse already has formally adopted Luke, broken free from Palpatine, and gained an armor upgrade, so his quality of life is significantly better than what we started out with.

Guides!Vader vs. Just-Before-The-OT-Kicks-Off Vader: Honestly just Vader seeing his slightly younger self and realizing that holy shit, he had it fucking awful. It’s often easier to feel compassion for others than for one’s self, so this would be a weird warring instinct in Guides!Vader where he’s only just started to learn not to hate himself with the fury of a thousand suns and his reawakening sense of “need to protect everyone.” In the end, I think his protective instinct would win over the others which would absolutely wig. him. out. as he’s essentially feeling compassion for himself??? It’s weird, is what it is, and he’s trying not to think to hard about it as that would mean some critical reexamination of his own psyche.

Conclusion: Guides!vader would mostly try to awkwardly steer this Vader into the direction of Luke without causing any time rifts and reassuring him that it will get better. It’ll be a lot of work, and he won’t feel like he deserves it, but he’ll be loved again, and it’ll all be worth it just for the person who loves him.

OT!Vader would be deeply confused and disturbed by this version of himself, as it’s essentially him, but... not in constant agony. Or apathetic. And the armor doesn’t look like his own design style either, which means that someone was willing to make that for a monster. Or maybe he finally forced someone to?

Conclusion: OT!Vader would be lost and confused, is what I’m saying, and maybe, even if he wouldn’t admit it to even himself, a little bit hopeful again.

10/10 interaction, Just two awkward nerds trying to navigate around the other while the elder nerd tries to steer the younger into better healing and healthy relationships.

Guides!Vader vs. Just-After-The-OT-Kicks-Off Vader: A horrifying wakeup call for Guides!Vader as he realizes that his apathy could and would have resulted in the destruction of a whole planet and all its inhabitants since he couldn’t find it in himself to interfere and was only saved by the grace of Luke reawakening his protective instincts. Just... resigned horror and sadness as he realizes that this version of him feels nothing at the death of a whole world. Then a dawning realization that he felt nothing plenty of times when whole cities and people were wiped out under his command because his master demanded it. Would probably result in a hell of an internal crisis as he kicks his own redevelopment of compassion and morals in a way higher gear than he can handle at the moment.

Conclusion: Guides!Vader would be processing the destruction of Alderaan and all its implications and memories that it would reawaken in him in his own way, and probably not have too much processing power available for this empty version of him. Or, if he could keep his wits about him, ask this version of Vader some very pointed questions that poke at all the things that still could make him things at his most apathetic. Perhaps even invoke Padmé. It wouldn’t be a good time.

OT!Vader would... probably gain the inklings of something as he realized that this version of him was... grieving Alderaan in his own way. Might shake something loose inside him that unsettles him as it begins to ping questions to his brain about why this version of him is upset. When was the last time that he was upset? How? Machines don’t— They don’t—

And if Guides!Vader could get out his questions it would quickly morph to confused pain and rage as his defense mechanisms went into full overdrive. Unfortunately, this opponent has all of his own skills and none of his limits due to the upgrades curtesy of Luke. A knock-down, drag-out fight would result where one party would hurl pointed questions and accusations while the other would rage and try to make them shut up. Honestly, who even knows how this would end? It might wake OT!Vader up from his apathy, it might just piss him off as a defense mechanism to not have to deal with feelings and consequences. Though again, Guides!Vader has the overall advantage here, so something really might just change, but it would have none of the gentleness of the previous interaction and could very well result in major injury.

Conclusion: OT!Vader would be confused, unsettled, and potentially highly pissed and desperate to make Guides!Vader shut up as he forces him to think about all thing things he doesn’t want to. Might reform, might not, honestly, I don’t think even he would know.

8/10 interaction, a real ghost-of-Christmas-future moment for both that neither quite knows what to do with. Copious amounts of sunshine therapy would be needed to really put everything right again.

Guides!Vader vs. ESB!Vader: Puts the “vs” in the title to good use! Damn the rules of time travel! Damn the rules of alternate universes! Damn everything under the Suns thrice! Guides!Vader doesn’t give a single shit about any consequences that might occur, this fucker hurt Luke. He’s going down. Would personally rock up to Cloud City to kick ass and take names the moment he became aware of the situation. Would kick OT!Vader’s ass on behalf of Luke powered by nothing but the sheer r a g e of a Papa Wolf. The Dark would on his side, snarling, and both in full agreement that his alt version is getting wrecked for hurting Luke in any damn way.

Emotional, physical, mental, metaphysical, it doesn’t matter a single damn to Guides!Vader. Luke is hurt and that requires retribution, even if this Luke isn’t his Luke strictly speaking. Adoption is a thing, he could probably smuggle this one back with him anyway. Luke wouldn’t mind a brother, would he? Might have to take his friends too, just to be safe. After he slices his bastard alt version into tiny pieces.

Conclusion: Guides!Vader would be high on righteous fury, parental instincts, and the Dark as he met this version of him, and would honestly have nothing but murder on his mind. Wouldn’t rest until this version of Luke never had to fear his Vader again and would honestly be too preoccupied with this tiny ball of sunshine to pay his alt version any mind beyond the rage.

OT!Vader would be having a hell of a time fending off this version of himself too. None of his own weaknesses, and while enraged and clearly not thinking too straight, that’s not exactly a disadvantage when fueled by the Dark. Honestly might be the one time he’d actually be afraid during a duel, aside from maybe his encounter with Obi-Wan on the Death Star. No time for introspection or discussion, this would be a fight for survival and likely one on the backfoot. Probably would have to retreat from Cloud City just to not get nuked to kingdom come by his alt version. Would have no idea what was happening and why, just that his black cyborg claims to be him from another time and wants. him. dead. And honestly, that hatred of him might be the one thing they’d be able to agree on. Conclusion: Still confused, but now also scared and maybe even somewhat terrified into thinking about his own actions. Would resent his alt self for blocking him from his son, and probably be weirdly jealous of himself if he ever caught wind of his alt self interacting with Luke, which would make him almost realize things about his own psyche that he probably doesn’t want to.

10/10 interaction, I want to see this fight happen and would pay good money to see it. Bonus points if we get confused-and-somewhat-scared OT!Luke thrown into the mix who suddenly has a highly protective and more emotionally competent version of his Father fussing over him like there is no tomorrow. Because damnit, he deserves that.

Guides!Vader vs. ROTJ!Vader: Guides!Vader would still be pissed at this Vader for hurting Luke, but also deeply disturbed now that he can see clearly how much this version of himself is not Free. Would be discomfited, frustrated, and enraged by the fight between OT!Vader and OT!Luke and would put a stop to that nonsense pronto. Most likely by shanking the Emperor and getting it all over with. Would lecture his other self to hell and back on how Free people don’t try to kill their own Son of the orders of someone else, damnit! Would ask the stinging question if he even wants to hurt Luke and go from there based on the answer. Likely course of action would be to just slap this version of himself around a bit until he stopped being fighty and then, urgh, talk to him. Would question his own sanity and ask himself how his own Son had the patience to help him through this bullshit.

If he saw OT!Vader get zapped by the Emperor while yeeting the bastard over the railing he might be able to be persuaded to use his knowledge of his own suit to save the bastard if OT!Luke insisted, but would be equally happy to let his alt self bite the dust. Well... “happy,” really. He’d feel a load of complicated feelings but regret wouldn’t be one of them.

Conclusion: Tired, Done, frustrated, pissed, highly uncomfortable, and generally just Not Having A Good Time as he deals with a load of baggage that once had his name on it too and honestly just wants to scoop up ROTJ!Luke and go home. Would be willing to save his alt self but at this point in time is also just as happy to let him lie in the bed he made. Really just the epitome of a tired dad.

OT!Vader would honestly be too far into depression and apathy at this point to have much of a reaction to his alt self at all. He would be confused, but at this point he’s so tired and worn down by life that he would all just let it happen. Luke’s rejection had the time to sink in, and if there’s one thing that’s true of all Vaders, it’s that Luke is their little star, and without him they’re very, very lost, and very, very lonely. Even if OT!Vader wasn’t exactly a stellar father and failed to be what Luke needed, he still loved his son in some way. Losing him would have dimmed his fire far enough that even the appearance of an alt version of himself wouldn’t be able to shake him out of it.

Even the fight and lecture might only be effective because he just doesn’t have the will anymore to fight these revelations and realizations. Pretty ready to die and get it all over with and might not necessarily appreciate Guides!Vader saving him, even if it was on OT!Luke’s insistence.

Conclusion: Tired, confused, and honestly just ready to go into that good night without much of a fight. But still wants the best for his son, and might be able to be motivated to keep going by Guides!Vader and OT!Luke using that to their advantage. Needs a hug and even deserves one in my opinion.

9/10 interaction, excellent fix-it material if you don’t think too hard about it, but loses one point for having emotional baggage that hits a bit too close to home. Could win that point back with a Luke hug or two.

Well then. That answer your question, nonny?

#The Guides Verse

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ruffylorpship · 5 years

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Introduction: Unfortunate Partners in Life

Right, I made the introduction chapter for this AU I created called Mindshare and I haven’t written anything in so long! I’ll definitely be expanding on this but for now, everything will be its own story with a slice of their life over the years.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21007967

I hope this can grow into something bigger once I get everything down. Gah I wish I had more time ;.; Hope you guys enjoy it! For people who don’t want to go to AO3 I’ll post the introduction under the cut~

Awareness seeped into his brain. He had finally awakened.

Systems were running as they were supposed to. All knowledge pertaining to the Armada’s history and the current objective was loaded. The file given designated him as a science drone to assist in building technology for the upcoming invasion titled Impending Doom. Red errors popped up in his mind’s eye, but he cast them aside, knowing that starting up always smooths out later. He identified himself as the Irken Zim, ready to serve the Empire and the Almighty Tallest. Zim wanted to make sure he was fully functional and ready for duty, so he took his time to run a diagnostic on his pak. Surely his leaders would want him at full-functioning capacity, and he would not let them down during his first moments of existing.

More warnings were popping up, irritating Zim and causing him to dismiss them all in a rush. He had to hurry and open his optics. The world would not wait for him forever to complete his own internal mission and join the rest in glory.

Muffled voices broke through the fog before the world was abruptly ripped away from him. He screamed to himself in the darkness of his brain, not understanding what had gone wrong. Any attempt to send a distress signal from the pak commands were unresponsive, causing his mind to retreat further into the machinery. For a short while, he could feel the cool metal floor of his smeetery chamber and hear the voices of those that would prepare him for the future. For a little bit, Zim had felt complete. Now, in this prison that housed his consciousness, he didn’t know what to do.

XXX

Maybe the armada was testing him? That could have been the answer. The mighty Zim wasn’t going to be decommissioned before proving his own worth! He would wait patiently for them to replug him back into his body and show his Tallest how functional he was. There were a few alerts about intense environmental conditions from the outside, but that was nothing to worry about. The pak was the finest technology in all of Irk. Zim would be safe unt-

XXX

Screaming. A horrible pitiful wail tore through the air. Something was terribly wrong. Only one optic nerve seemed to be working. He breathed in a gasp and paused, realizing something else wasn’t making sense. He was taking in air despite irkens not having to truly breathe. The only conclusion he could come up with was that his pak had latched onto the closest object to reawaken itself, which in this case was another life form. His pak must have gotten lost in space and landed on a distant planet.

Usually, this would be a downgrade from his superior self, but Zim saw this as a perfect opportunity to get back to his body using this borrowed vessel. If he was attached to something that was not his own irken flesh, the creature he was stuck to would eventually die off and give him complete control. Strangely, the repair protocols were being activated, feeding themselves into the life-form and repairing strange damage that couldn’t be properly identified. The energy needed being too great caused Zim to fall back into a dormant state.

XXX

Eyes blinked open, but everything seemed to be slightly blurred. Against the odds, the creature he was attached to was still alive if not a little broken. It seemed to have it’s own mind intact as well. Impressive for a less superior species. Zim could feel the weight of its presence clinging to him like a filthy growth. The mind was not inside his pak, for only one could be encoded to the machine and was binding for life. With no defenses inhabiting the organic squishy brain of the other organic Zim took a chance and pushed through to take control once more, also hoping the other mind would disappear forever. The brightness swam through eyes not his own. A giant stinky monster in some sort of clothing hovered over him, as tall as the Almighty Tallest and draped in white cloth. His eyes were covered by protective gear and his giant gloved hands reached down to pick Zim up, making him realize the host he was attached to was extremely small.

‘Warm...’ Zim thought in awe as he was able to feel for the first time since he had been plugged in. An echo of the same thought came back.

“Why hello there son! My my, you gave the boys and I such a big scare. Turns out that the device is keeping you nice and stable. No more termination for you today.”

‘Termination? Death? How dare this creature try and dispose of me! It will suffer the wrath of Zim!’

With as much power as he could Zim waved his clawless hand in front of the giant face and hissed menacingly. His strength tired out quickly however and he seemed to be pushed back into the background once again, aware that the vessel he housed had started crying again.

“Uhh sir? Why was your child hissing?”

“Oh, it’s probably nothing. He just recovered from a traumatic experience of near-death after all. There there little Dib, no more crying for tonight.” The creature cooed while attempting to rock the crying alien smeet.

‘Shut your whining you worm creature, your yelling is worse than the sqorchmurfs of planet Brakiclax!’

It cried harder as if to defy him. Oh, the creature would pay dearly when he gets control back. He could feel the pain and confusion seeping through the mental connection, creating a small barrage of half baked thoughts that could barely count as actual words or images.

It was literally a primitive smeet without knowledge or understanding. The blankest slate in the universe. Just great… The pain of the creature's emotions was getting progressively worse, causing Zim to try and console the little creature in hopes of getting it to finally quiet.

‘Um... there there little Dib-thing? Shut up so the big monster will put us down!’

Funny enough, the creature now tagged in his database as 'The Dib' stopped its crying and changed his tone to a soft whimper. After he was hooked back up to the medical equipment for monitoring and the giant creatures left, Zim made sure his host was unconscious again before extending a wire from his pak to plug into the mainframe. He had some learning to do.

XXX

Zim tried piloting the tiny legs towards the machine, already imagining many ways to blow up the miserable planet. He discovered the rock was called Earth. It’s natives called ‘humans’ dominated the land with their stink and filth. He figured his pak must have accidentally been misplaced and jettisoned into space, eventually making his way to the far uncharted planet. Even though the earth was not marked for conquering in his database he decided he would take it over and present it as an offering to his Tallest. Even though he was supposed to be a science drone hopefully doing this for his leaders would give him a promotion of joining the Invaders in conquest.

He had overheard with his overly large borrowed ears that the latest machinery the parental unit had created could potentially plunge the world into darkness. Taking over the power would surely ensure that control would be handed to Zim! This would be easier if he waited for the body he was borrowing to grow out of smeethood but there was no time to lose.

The door was big, but nothing his pak legs couldn’t fix. Making sure to not make a sound he crept into the room and prepared to take out the scientists that were hard at work in the lab. Before he could reactivate his legs to engage in attack mode the smeet woke up and started fighting his mind. Not expecting much resistance, Zim prepared his attack again only to have his body sit back down on the cold floor and cross his arms in protest.

‘Give me back control you useless stinky smeet!’

‘No!’

An unexpected reply making him pause in his efforts. The thing had barely been cognitive for weeks. The only exposer it had to the outside world was through the giant humans and through himself… wait…

‘Have you been leaching from me? You’ve been looking at the same resources I have and gathering intel from the mighty ZIM!?’

‘No…’

Well it certainly had a one-track mind, expected of a primitive life form, but ultimately a hindrance.

‘Give me back control and shut down into a sleep cycle for the night you waste of space!’

‘No no no no no no bad no!’

The ultimate temper tantrum resulted in the body rolling along the floor like a sad fleshy ball, which is how the scientists found the smeet later in the night. The pitiful worm-baby had won this round for now.

XXX

“No school! Please no school! Noooo!”

Dib cried as he pulled harder from his father’s gloved grip. He had to pretend to be as smart as a normal kid so his dad wouldn’t try and force him into science bonding time. Dib prefered the quiet life of searching the internet for new things to learn. He didn’t need to be near other people so they could make fun of his life support and his silly hair. Sadly his dad didn’t really seem to agree with him sitting in his room all day.

“Now now Dib, you need room to grow and evolve. While your sister is sleeping I need you to unpack the books I got you so you can learn responsibility. I swear the only words you like to say since you’ve started talking are ‘no’ and ‘alien’ and both words are ridiculous in this household. Now hurry up, I have a science demonstration to attend to.”

With that his dad let go of his arm and hurried downstairs, leaving Dib to sulk on his bed. At five years old Dib Membrane had learned a lot about the world. Some of his teachings were through his father when he wasn’t busy. The internet was full of information, especially about strange and unexplained mysteries of the world that science had no real answers for. The last source was a bit more… unreliable and tended to be bad most of the time.

‘Your parental unit is so bossy…’ His inner voice grumbled as Dib started packing up the books into his arm bag. The life support made it impossible to use a normal backpack.

“You mean Dad?"

‘Yes! That’s what I said filthy worm-child!’

Dib rolled his eyes at the comment, noticing at the top left his glasses had a smudge. Another reason he didn’t want to go to school. The internet said people tended to have eye problems later in their life, while he had the luck to need them very early.

“You use big words a lot. Why are you so smart when I’m not?”

‘Ehh…That’s because… I was created with knowledge already programmed. Despite your fast learning capabilities, humans are born with blank slates and squishy matter that need stuff like time and repetition.’

That caused Dib to pause and scratch his head in confusion from the big words being thrown around, making a note to research them later on the internet. He already had a book filled with words the voice tended to throw around, making him want to understand.

“Aren’t you human?”

‘Yes yes! I am definitely a fully functioning monkey-child! I mean I am you but more superior with my technological upgrades… LEAVE ME ALONE!’

The volume inside his head caused him to wince, even though he knew it wasn’t real. It was strange. People don’t usually develop voices in their heads. Maybe the voice was part of his imagination, like an imaginary friend that also worked as a duel personality. He was smarter than most people his age, he knew that fact because his dad’s lab assistants always told him, but he was also a bit strange.

He stopped at the door, with his bag safely hanging from his right arm, hands pressed together in nervousness.

“I’m scared everyone is going to make fun of me. I’m too different. Why can’t I stay home? I learn enough on my own.”

He really didn’t expect the voice to reply back, but surprisingly it did with a bit of hesitation in its voice.

‘Despite how much I’d rather stay within the close confines of accessible technology, I agree with your parental unit when he says you need to grow and evolve. With height comes power, and with knowledge comes privilege to achieve what you must do. Don’t let those smelly man creatures be the boss of you. Beside’s, gathering intel from this wasteland of a planet will be beneficial for upcoming invas- I mean challenges.’

“You’re using too many big words again, but I feel a bit better. I want to find a real monster someday, and I need to learn about the world to get there. I know that much, I think? So…thanks voice. Or uhh… imaginary friend? I don’t really know what to call you. Maybe I should name you?”

‘I am no pet smeetling! You may address me as the Almighty Superior Leader Ruler Overlord and Master Zim!’

With one last roll of his eyes, Dib pushed the door open and made his way downstairs to meet his fate.

“Right, thanks Zim.”

#ao3 #invader zim #iz au #mindshare au #zim #dib membrane #iz dib membrane #zadf #introduction chapter

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