I don’t mean to flip-flop back and forth, but yeah, that is the only alternative I currently see that kinda works. The only reason I’d be fine with it is because it serves the conclusion of the story so well rather than introducing another twist.

True, as was pointed out by krlozdac, this makes it so we know she cannot be a Palpatine unless she chose that for some reason. But that’s where the Palpatine confrontation twist comes into play, where he’s basically forcing her to choose exactly that. “You will be Empress. We will be one.” So even if he cannot claim her at the moment, he believes he will be able to anyway.

I do disagree with the notion that Palpatine claiming Vader as his apprentice goes against the idea of this alternative line. Vader was definitely allowing him to do this: “I will do whatever you ask.” He was submitting to him in RotS from the very beginning. So, ultimately, it is a decision that belongs to both Anakin and Rey. And seeing his son dying was what finally snapped Vader out of his subservience. For Rey, it was Ben reaching out to her on Exegol.