I've also always wondered what it would be like, with Fitchner still alive to guide the children of Ares, and baby Pax ownn I hope Darrow can be a father, but the war will still last a long time :( what will it be like with Nero as king of Mars, will he still be king? and with Lorn alive omg, I've always wanted to know how they would react to Darrow being a red, I'm so excited to read more :)
I hope you are enjoying so far!
Still not sure how I will deal with Nero yet, but I'll defintely work on that. For now I'll focus on the Core vs Mars-Rim fight then plan from there.
I decided to rewatch the first chapter, and Sevro "fixed" the problem. I mean, he killed Harmony? So Harmony didn't have a chance to tell the Jackal about Darrow, right?
And Mickey knows Mustang knows about Darrow? Because he took Red's traces from Pax.
Interesting, one of Nero's niece survived; she might be important in the future.
And Nero's third wife betrayed him. We only had two mentions of her in the books, I think, and then never again. I'm glad you mentioned her.
I also don't know what the story would be like with Nero alive, no matter how much I try to imagine, his character is so complex, but do it the way you think is best, I really like your writing and I'm sure I'll like what you decide for him 😁
Yeah, so to make this work, Octavia, Roque and the Jackal don’t know he is a Red. The Jackal betrayed him because he wants to be ArchGovernor, Roque because of Quinn, Lea, Tactus, not telling him about the Sovereign in Agea etc. Plus I think he never was fully behind a system wide civil war, only taking down the Bellona.
Yes. Mustang doesn’t fully know about the plan the Sons have. She just knows about Fitchner/Sevro/Darrow’s family.
From the books I gathered Nero’s wife really liked the Jackal. I also had it as head cannon that she is younger than Nero and quite ambitious hence her helping the Jackal out with the betrayal.
So Nero, in my head at least, is a really smart but sometimes stupid guy. He gets so caught up with the big picture he can miss the small details.
Also he is really warm to/about Pax because of finding out that Adrius paid Karnus to kill Claudius and the fact that he finally gets a grandson (his family is getting larger)
Pax also kind of ties Darrow to Nero. In Neros’s mind,IMO, he thinks Darrow wouldn’t turn on him as easily and OPENLY with Pax there in addition to Virginia.
Also in GS, Nero hopes to use Darrow to ensure Virginia doesn’t get mad when he tries the Reformers after they defeat Octavia.
So he kind of seems mischaracterised but it’s more of a ruse because of his various interests.
Thank you for the feedback! Please keep commenting it really makes my day!
If I have understood correctly, the point of divergence was Harmony not betraying Fitchner and Darrow, wasn't it? Although if Roque is still on the betrayal, it's weird that Agea failed.
(It feels that Darrow failing to reach the Sovereign's ship - meaning Fitchner won't have to blow his cover to save him - would be a more plausible path to this result, with Fitchner warning Darrow (through proxies? but he might have to flee Octavia anyways since he would be the prime suspect considering that he was fond of Darrow and his son fights on the other side) about the betrayal.)
"Yes. Mustang doesn’t fully know about the plan the Sons have. She just knows about Fitchner/Sevro/Darrow’s family."
That feels out of character, wouldn't Mustang want to know the truth? Like, at the end of Golden Son, she was incredibly torn because she realised much of what Darrow has presented to her and to the world was a lie and he wants her father dead.
Yeah.
If I understood the timeline correctly, The Jackal caught Harmony after the Iron Rain. So nothing about the Rain changes including the scene on the ship with Octavia Fitchner etc.
All that changes is The Jackal and Roque betray him still thinking he is a Gold.
In MS, Roque that Quinn’s death made the difference, being Red was only just a huge plus.
For the Jackal in this version he wants the ArchGovernorship and exploits Darrow’s relationship with Roque. Also, Darrow reminds him of Claudius now, just like Leto and he wanted to rid himself of him after the success and fame from iron rain.
So a couple of things on Mustang. She knows Darrow is a Red and Sevro is half Red. She also knows Fitchner is Ares. She views them almost as though they were Reformers but a bit extreme. I think she also sympathises with the whole Eo situation.
This might be one of Darrow’s failings in this ‘timeline’ but he hopes to resolve all this when Mustang finds out what Nero intends to do with the reformers.
Might not be the best explanations but I didn’t think about some of the bits too deeply before o started writing hehe.
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