Mace Windu had a headache. He almost always had a headache, and the usual cause of said headaches were the Skywalkers. If it wasn’t Padme Amidala-Skywalker negotiating trade deals while insulting the Republic then it was Anakin Skywalker-now Darth Vader; getting into some serious shit or causing some serious shit.
A Jedi turned insane Sith Lord was bad PR for the Jedi Order. It was worse when his secret wife turned traitor and left the Republic to throw her support behind the Confederates. The entirety of the 501st had defected, followed swiftly by most of thee clone troopers. Palpatine had been a Sith Lord, the war had been a sham that had killed millions of people and had gutted the Jedi Order and everything had been a clusterfuck for a good few years.
“Master Windu?” He turned, trying to dispel his headache, to see Obi-Wan Kenobi standing just inside the door. “I have news.”
“Please tell me Luke isn’t dead.” Obi-Wan looked gaunt and miserable, wearing his guilt and shame like a persistent shadow. He didn’t like to come up to the Temple proper, preferring to seclude himself in the lower levels to wallow in his guilt. The man mostly refused to even greet Luke or Leia. Mace wasn’t sure if Obi-Wan thought that their existence was because of a mistake on his part or not.
“No, but he’s been captured.I received a message from,” Obi-Wan’s breath hitched. “Anakin.”
“I told you to block him,” Mace glowered. Obi-Wan had an alarming tendency to take sole blame for everything that had gone wrong with Anakin, Padme, and Palpatine. Survivors guilt or not, it wasn’t healthy. “Have you talked to any of the therapists I recommended you?”
“Master, I don’t need to see a therapist.” Obi-Wan shrugged, “I am a Jedi.”
“So what?” Mace snapped, his headache was pounding now. “I see one, so does Luke and so does Leia.” As always, when the twins were mentioned, Obi-Wan averted his gaze.
“Anakin captured Luke and he doesn’t plan on releasing him. Master, we need to break him out! He’s in grave danger like that.”
“Uh,” Mace blinked a few times before remembering that Obi-Wan didn’t know how to interact with the Sithly Skywalker. He didn’t know that Vader was alarmingly cheerful, but would never hurt his son or daughter. He didn’t know that Vader and Amidala could be negotiated with. Kenobi didn’t want to know that Mace and the twins maintained a tenuous treaty. “Right, we’ll get started on that right away. I have to go pick up Leia.”
“Where,” Obi-wan cleared his throat, “where is she?”
“Probably at the cafe across the street from her therapists office,” Mace sighed. “I have to go, thank you for telling me. Block that man from your datapad, Obi-Wan”
“Yes, Master.” Obi-Wan sighed and left and Mace pinched the bridge of his nose before following suit.
He did fine Leia sitting on the cafe, her nose in her datapad and a sugary caf drink in front of her. The staff and regulars had gotten use to the sight of two Jedi, so when he entered, no one bothered glancing at him twice. He sat down opposite his student, and she slid him a muffin without looking up.
“How was it,” he asked, picking up the muffin and taking a bite.
“Fine, Luke sent me a message that he’s been captured by the parents so I told Dr. Lein that he won’t be in next week.”
“Alright,” Mace nodded, “he was captured, but I’m sure we’ll see him in two weeks or so.”
“Probably,” Leia finally looked up. “I hope he finds the stash I left in our room.”
“Snacks and stuff to help him escape.”
“Well done.” He took another bite of his muffin. “The pirates were wiped out, I’m assuming?”
“Oh, yeah, Father killed all of them.” Mace closed his eyes, sighing deeply. Once upon a time he had never would have considered taking two apprentices, twins, and letting them bond so deeply. He never would have willingly gone to therapy or urged his padawans to go to the therapy. He never would have let his padawan spend and afternoon sitting in a cafe.
He had changed, and his methods of raising twin padawans had changed. It was simple, he was going to do the opposite of everything he’d done before Anakin Skywalker decent to the Dark Side. As far as he had been able to figure, Skywalker’s fall had been from a dozen different factors and the man had collapsed into the Dark even as he tried to cling to the light with his fingertips. It was like standing next to a sinkhole that had swallowed a friend. It had happened in slow motion, over the course of a decade and a half and Mace had watched. They’d all been manipulated by Palpatine and his gas lighting but none more so than Anakin. Looking back made Mace’s stomach twist into painful knots, so he could hardly blame Obi-Wan for collapsing into despair at Anakin’s actions.
Vader was like no Sith Mace had ever heard of, and Luke and Leia were a new sort of Jedi.
Most of the council had argued against Mace Windu’s plan to raise the twins. Not that it would have deterred Mace. The plan was to make sure the twins knew everything. That the twins would be raised together. Everything that Mace had done before Anakin’s Fall, he now did the direct opposite. He gave hugs and praise freely. He’d tolerated all of their tantrums and fits with inhuman patience, instead of dumping them on someone else. Mace kept the twins away from galactic politics, focusing on philosophy and other topics that Jedi really should have been focusing on instead of a war. He never left them unsupervised with adults he didn’t know or trust. No solo missions until they were really ready. Really ready.
He didn’t care that Yoda disapproved. He didn’t care that Depa Billaba was jealous that the twins got to freely do things she used to have to sneak out to do. He didn’t care if the other Jedi were going to distrust the twins. He sent the twins to therapy. He bought parenting books and tried to mix Jedi teachings in with them. Mace was doing his best. He’d worn a harness that let him carry both babies around. He’d become the meme, Jedi Master Mom.
He wasn’t going to watch the Chosen One’s children become Sith. The galaxy would probably drown in blood if that happened.
It was worth it to see Darth Vader cock his head to the side, confused (grateful) that his children were pretty well-adjusted. And to see Vader seethe over the fact that Mace had gotten the “Galaxy’s Best Dad” mug and Vader had gotten the “Galaxy’s Okayest Dad” Mug.
Mace had seen shatterpoints of what might have happened if he’d agreed with the council. He knew what Vader was capable of and what motivated him. Sometimes it felt that all of his work was being offered to a volatile, angry god that would crush him when it so pleased.
Mace Windu swallowed the last of his muffin, feeling his headache abate a little as he leaned back and let the noise of the cafe wash over him.
He really was doing his best.
