Darth Vader Goes to Therapy

The Breakthrough

Fairness. Darth Vader was anything but fair, because life had never been fair to him. Or anyone else, for that matter. It seemed everyone was miserable on some level because of the hand life dealt them, and sometimes he wondered what the point of it all was. And if there was no point to life, then perhaps he was giving people a mercy when he ended their pathetic lives.

At least, that's what he told himself.

Still. When he thought about ignoring the boy's request, his mind brought up the memory of the boy and his droid. He had no idea why. It wasn't like he hadn't seen plenty of mechanics work on droids before. But there was something about the boy...the way he looked when he did it. It...stirred something, something he'd wanted to forget about but couldn't...

There was something about him--something he'd failed to see before in his rush to attempt to control the therapy situation. Was it his abnormally calm demeanor? The way he refused to flinch or outwardly react when he was threatened?

Well. That was strange enough, but he doubted that was the reason why he was bothered so much.

After more hours of contemplation than Vader would care to admit, the answer came to him in the middle of the night cycle.

It was the boy's appearance.

The color of his hair. Vader knew it to be blonde just like billions of other people in the galaxy, but it was the way it fell across his forehead, the way it curled just barely at the ends.

His eyes. Again, Vader couldn't actually see the color, but the boy's military profile said they were blue. But it was the shape of them that struck him as familiar, especially when his brow furrowed over them.

The angles of his face. The cleft in his chin. The shape of his nose...the damn innocent smile.

And the way he'd been focusing on that droid, the way his hands moved that spoke of years of experience, perhaps even natural talent...

And yet knowing it was the boy's appearance that was bothering him so much didn't explain why.

It made him curious enough to pull out the boy's military profile (where he confirmed the color of his eyes) and look into it.

And for whatever reason, the boy's name caught his attention.

Luke Lars.

It wasn't unfamiliar, though he didn't care to bother remembering it. And yet now...

Lars.

Why was that name familiar?

It was on the very edge of his mind, as if he were close to the answer but something were blocking it. He attempted to meditate past whatever block was there, but to no avail.

He couldn't find the answer himself.

But he knew how to get the answer.

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Luke frowned at the completed droid. C-Y-L-2 was the manufactured name. It was humanoid, and he'd programmed everything correctly, and yet when he turned it on, there was something...off about the personality. At least, off for a droid that was meant to be a therapist receptionist, because when it looked at the schedule for the upcoming day, it shook its head, made a concerned noise, and said, "Darth Vader is our first appointment today? Really? Are you sure? I could pretend we closed for the day if that would make him go away."

Luke honestly wasn't sure if he'd messed up on the personality, or if accessing the holonet information on Darth Vader just scared the droid anyway. He pulled up his schematics, looking for where he might have gone wrong as he answered. "No, Lord Vader is our primary patient. You should have access to the court order in your files."