AU - Cornelius Arrives Early
Alternate universe where Keith's father arrived early in time to catch Alabaster killing Cathleen, suggested by SetriaphTFK! In this universe, Cornelius kills his old friend for what he did and ends up the one banished instead of Keith.
Comments (58)
He did the right thing
I'm rather confused by all of this. Keith was convicted of killing BOTH his parents, wasn't he? By Alabaster? With a living witness and a judge not being horribly biased, shouldn't Cornelius be absolved as just having been protecting Cathleen???
Atleast he loved his wife
Keith sets out to find his father, resulting in mostly the same sequence of events. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I can't decide wether this is better or worse for Keith, but its good alabaster is dead.
What about this scene if everyone spoke like Dr Seus?
Alabaster looks much better with a spear protruding from his chest.
This is insane that Cornelius would be banished for killing a man that broke the Curfew, penetrate a woman's house in the female district and tried to kill said woman who's also the wife of a fellow general. I think Cornelius could have plead a lot of mitigating circumstances, but, I guess in this AU, considering his expression on the last panel, he wanted to make amend for killing his dear friend, even if said "friend" tried to kill his wife in a drunken frenzy. But nobody would defend him ? Empathise with what happened to him and try to make his punishement less harsh ? Basitin's laws can be really unfair sometime :') BUT, it's still a "better" outcome, at least, Cornelius (who was innocent of the murder of his wife) is still alive, Keith didn't involontarily kill his dad thinking he was the murderer, Cathleen is still alive (even if it was a close call), and there is hope that Cornelius can come back one day to his wife and son (even if before that, he'll need to forgive himself about Alabaster's death, before even start to restore his honnor). ... But that would mean Keith would never encounter Flora (but at least she would not die) nor Natani and Zen (... I guess at least he would not get stab in the chest ? XD)... Yeah a lot of stuff would have changed :'D
I knew it - I just knew if he had seen what happened he would have torn Albion apart! That bastard in the canon timeline just got intolerably, unacceptably, prohibitively, unforgivably lucky like he should not have ever been allowed to by the powers that be. Absolutely love this, immeasurably satisfying!
Addition to this story is that Cornelius wonders the mainland and during his travels intervenes in Natani and Zens homes being attacked. And also wonders around preventing all the bad stuff that happened to the main cast lol
Oh my god ! That could make the best of both timeline happen ! He prevent the attack on Natani and Zen, "adopt" them (because he was too late to save their parents), they travel with him, he end up restauring his honor one way or another, and also overcome his crushing guilt of killing his best friend (Said "best friend" tried to kill the love of his life, but, it was still his friend and he was too stunlocked by Cornelius arriving mid-murder attempt to be agressive, nearly begging for his life), so, he come back on the Island. Cornelius and Cathleen end up reunited, Keith have his two parents, a new friend (Zen), and still meet Natani, wich means they still have the possibility to fall in love with each others X3 (And since there was no soul destruction => soul link => Soul Link cutting shenanigans, Natani is less confused about their Gender. And since we know Keith was already in love with Natani BEFORE the "awakening" (Natani accepting their body, but also, realising Zen wasn't the reason for identifying as a male) in the canon timeline, nothing stop Keith from falling in love with Natani in the "Cornelius saved Cathleen and killed Alabaster" Timeline once Cornelius come back with Natani and Zen on Basitin Island.)
"Take care of your mother". That means Cathleen survived the attack,
And in Cornelius' mind, saving her made his exile worth it,
Man this is worth but that Universe Keith never need trace,flora,natani,Laura, Kathrin,Eric and the rest group of red party ;—;
Honestly, this would be such a cool origin to a story about Cornelius' exile instead of Keith.
He would 100% start going mad due to being separated from basitin society, so it wouldn't be a long tale, unfortunately.
He had to do it. And he knew the cost.
And saving Cathleen made it all worth it.
Keith: Okay, have fun! Cornellus: ......
this actually makes sense from a narrative point of view, after all, if it were me, I'd be FURIOUS! so yeah, this is great!
I think a loooooooooooot of us would kill even our best friend if we catched them mid-murdering our soulmate, the love of our life, parent of our child(s).
At first I assumed that Cornelus would have higher risks than Keith to become insane among rule-breaking "Deviants" abroad, but this small smile at knowing he did the right thing made me reconsider. 🤔
In a way, that kinda "solved" the investigation on Cathleen that was currently happening. Alabaster (who forged the documents to bring Cathleen in the country) is dead, so, the investigation would end up in a dead end (no pun intended), and, Cathleen is a murder attempt victim (so, investigating her would feel like a very unfair and abusive procedure). Futhermore, losing TWO generals in such a short span of time will throw the state in quite a disaray, no time to investigate potential forged documents alegedly done by a dead man. So, Cornelius can go with his mind at peace, at least, now, Cathleen is free from investigation.
This is awesome and just heart rending. Thanks for taking my suggestion, it went beyond what I expected.
It's opening so many possibilities ! Thanks for the suggestion !
Au are nice aditions...they just give the queston...ehst whould have hapened to the trio? Or keith and nat
Awesome AU, though you would think he would be able to defend himself in court. Saying he was protecting his wife from a drunken assault, especially having his wife as an eyewitness and victim of assault.
Basitins are strict legalists. No excuses are accepted. Some of the imperial dynasties of China tried this based on Confucius. It never went well. The death penalty for every little thing leads to a nothing to lose attitude. At least the Basitins only exile their criminals.
Neat!
Love the concept of this au event. Alabaster 100% gets what he deserves and Keith doesn't get unfairly banished from his home, and gets to live out the rest of his early years with friends and family, also Cathleen survives which is great. The only bittersweet note is that, due to never being banished, Keith likely never meets Trace, Flora, and of course, Natani...
Other positive outcome : Keith never killed his father thinking he was the one that killed Cathleen (no double guilt of killing his father AND killing his father who was innocent), so, that open the door to potential reconciliation between Keith and Cornelius if he come back one day. Concerning the bittersweet note, the pen is in our hands, so, we can still make it more or less work by making Cornelius being the one encountering the group, accompagny them to the Basitin Islands and Natani end up encountering Keith here. (for exemple) And without making it too far-fetched since we got a lot of leeway to make it work.
Hmmmm, That was very satisfactory, if that happened I'd say to him,"Suck it, you old fool!"
Yeah I do not blame Cornelius in the slightest and I appreciate that he accepts his face on what will happen, poor Keith though
It looks like he arrived in time to save Cathleen, and he feels that saving her was worth banishment.
Somehow I think Cornelius would have considered banishment preferable under the circumstances.
I've had a little story formulating in my head and funny enough, it was a similar situation to this. Though the mother died and the son was too young to remember either of them and became a major loyalist to the nation. An AU side comic would be kinda cool.
Tom why must u make us cry do u have a kink for it
Unknown to Cornelius, Cathleen would devote every waking moment to bringing her husband home...which is how, in a few years time, Keith found himself crowned King.
Love this part of the story Interesting AU, makes me think about it Amazing suggestion Nicely done, just as if a page from the comic. Well, at least Kathleen is alive.
This is epic in multiple ways, I always find twokinds to oddly feel like Illiad and the Odyssey from Keith's perspective and this au just cements that personal head canon, great job tom :)
Keith was a mess after the trial. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand. His dad protected mum from a drunk general. "He isn't a murderer, he's a hero!" But who cares about a son of a criminal? Only Alaric, his trustworthy friend shared his opinion. And so, he decided. The young boy worked tirelessly for years, even at the point of breaking his body, doing everything to climb the ladder. Top of a class, master swordsman, genius tactician... After killing Jade Adelaide in a duel, he was awarded the crown and status of a legend. With his confidant and lover as a Master General by his side, could finally change the law. The only thing he was worrying was if he was fast enough... Fast enough for his father to survive...
It be nice if all 3 of Alaric, Keith, and cathleen were to set out and search for Cornelius.
I absolutely love that Keith still ends up with his Father's helmet
"For the 'muder' of a fellow general", in case anyone missed it
Tom fixed it.
But this changes the future storyline, if they don't meet Keith that means they would took a completely different route through the world
Yes!!!
What would happen to Keith after that? How would Alaric respond to it?
Sometimes, I wonder if Albion had a crush on Cornelius. Why else would he have gone so far out of line to attack the Keisers? ...Also, I'm sorry to say this, but you wrote "For the muder of a fellow general". You forgot to put in the first "R" in "murder".
It's frustrating that I check over these and stream them but no one notices typos until they get posted. Thanks.
“Take care of your mother for me.” That hits hard in Keiths stand point.
It means that she's still alive and hopefully not in a coma, which is what made the exile worth it for Cornelius.
Love it! I think about this scene a lot, and I'm glad to see someone else does enough to suggest it
Damn
I love AU content. If I may make a bittersweet analysis of tragedy always befalling the Keiser family...they all live, at least, and Keith stays home where he can be with his mom, and eventually Alaric. I had to mention Alaric
Considering all of the trauma that happened in that single night, Keith needs Alaric. And hey! At least this time, he won't have that eye scar
YEAAAAAHHHHH!!!! This is the death Alabaster deserved! A big boom boom was too quick.
woah