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English
Series:
Part 3 of Woman of the Watch
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Published:
2022-02-02
Completed:
2022-03-16
Words:
2,115
Chapters:
7/7
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What if...? Woman of the Watch Edition

Summary:

Alethia fell into another world and made a bunch of choices - some better, some worse. But what if things had gone differently? What if Alethia had made other choices?

This work contains major spoilers for Woman of the Watch and can't be read as a standalone!

Chapter 1: What if... Alethia had portaled to King's Landing instead of Winterfell?

Chapter Text

  • I firmly believe that while Cersei can be very nasty, she sees right through Alethia’s act and decides that she has a soft spot for her
  • Takes her in, and saves her from Robert
  • On the way to Winterfell, Alethia meets Tyrion, and they become pretty good friends, even though he sees her more as a (his) kid
  • In Winterfell, Alethia shamelessly flirts with Jon, who has no idea how to react
  • Alethia goes with Tyrion instead of Cersei, which she understands but doesn’t like at all
  • Cersei gives Alethia a vial of poison, for the worst of emergencies
  • On the way North, Alethia and Jon actually make out once, after which Jon completely ignores her
  • Follows Tyrion from the Wall, to the Vale, to the Lannister camp
  • Tywin thinks she’s Tyrion’s whore but her no fucks attitude saves her life, and he develops something that isn’t quite respect for her
  • Tries to help Sansa as much as she can, but Sansa doesn’t trust her
  • When Tyrion kills Joffrey, Alethia is the only witness pleading for him
  • This is what breaks her relationship with Cersei
  • Escapes to Essos with Tyrion, but gets separated on the way
  • Makes it to Mereen early, where she informs Dany of the illegal slavery going on for the fighting pits
  • Goes back to Westeros with Dany, and the two of them make an absolute badass duo
  • Reunites with Jon on Dragonstone, secures Dany’s support against the White Walkers
  • Jon falls for her instead of Dany, and they hook up after Dany drops in to save him from his suicide mission
  • Eventually, Dany takes the throne, Alethia helping her avoid a lot of mistakes she could have made
  • Due to lack of recent trauma, Alethia accepts when she is named Dany’s hand, and does a quite decent job too
  • She and Jon do long distance for a while, before Tyrion comes back from Casterly Rock and tells them to get married already
  • Tyrion is Alethia’s very proud adoptive dad, Alethia’s children are the heirs to Casterly Rock and Winterfell, but she has them at an appropriate age
  • Dany adopts a kid in secret, but raises them as her own
  • Overall, a good ending that didn’t traumatize Alethia as much

Chapter 2: What if… Alethia hadn’t gone on a ranging with Qhorin Halfhand?

Chapter Text

  • She would have stayed in Castle Black instead
  • So scared for Sam and Jon
  • When the ravens come flying back, her heart drops for a good minute
  • Jon actually doesn’t do anything with Ygritte since Alethia isn’t there to start bitch fights with him and want him to spite her
  • Alethia discovers her immortality when she slips and falls down a flight of stairs, she comes late to dinner and tells no one
  • Works on Thorne until he improves the defenses of Castle Black
  • When Jon comes back, he is not pierced by arrows, but Tormund took a good chunk out of his shoulder that Alethia has to take care of
  • They fall in love anyways
  • The rest is pretty similar, but we can all pretend Al had her happy end

Chapter 3: What if… Alethia had never become a member of the Night’s Watch?

Chapter Text

  • She doesn’t go south with Ned, bc she’s not an idiot
  • Can’t prevent him from going, no matter how hard she tries
  • As soon as he’s gone, she realizes everything will go down exactly as before, so Alethia works on Robb in hopes of preventing the Red Wedding. In her mind: well, if he’s in love with me, he won’t marry any Westerlings or Maegyrs
  • When Ned gets beheaded, they’re dancing around each other, and Catelyn is extremely concerned for both of them, Theon teases Robb to death
  • Catelyn makes the deal at the Twins anyways, and Alethia fights with Robb in order to get him to agree
  • When they fight at Oxcross and Jeyne Westerling makes an appearance, Alethia realizes that she’s actually extremely jealous of her AND has accidentally fallen in love with Robb
  • They do the do there, and he wants her to marry him
  • It breaks Alethia’s heart to refuse, but she does anyways
  • She asks him to not make her go to his wedding at the Twins, which he agrees to, saying it’ll make it easier for both of them
  • The Red Wedding happens anyways because the Boltons and Freys are fucking assholes
  • Alethia sneaks out of Riverrun and swims past the Twins, up the Trident until she can’t anymore and drags herself out of the water
  • She falls asleep, and when she wakes up the next morning, lying in freshly-fallen snow, she knows something is off
  • Then proceeds to steal a horse bc she’s really shaken from prior events
  • She stays in the Neck for a while, stealing from here and there and always barely avoiding soldiers
  • When she hears that Wildlings attacked Castle Black, she rides straight up North
  • Reunites with Jon after he becomes Lord Commander
  • When they want to retake Winterfell from the Boltons, Alethia finds out that her affair to Robb was, in fact, not at all a secret, but a thing the Northern Lords kept ‘hush hush’
  • The Northern Houses are more than happy to support the inofficial widow of their King
  • Jon and Alethia marry as soon as they (bc Robb defo taught her to fight) defeat the Boltons as a political match
  • They fall in love anyways

Chapter 4: What if… Grenn had survived?

Chapter Text

  • He’s with Al when everyone finds out she’ll leave the Watch
  • Knows immediately after they kissed that Al and Jon are a thing
  • 1 supporter
  • So close with Shireen
  • Leaves the Watch with Jon, Alethia and Sansa as an ‘escort’
  • Pushes Al and Jon to get married early
  • They get married as per Wildling traditions and Tormund throws a huge party
  • After they retake Winterfell, Alethia tells him that they’ll name him their future child’s godfather and Grenn has a major breakdown
  • So many happy tears
  • Stays in Winterfell after everything and marries Sansa’s seamstress
  • Becomes an excellent uncle (and greatuncle but that’s in a very far future)

Chapter 5: What if… Alethia had decided against saving Shireen?

Chapter Text

  • A little depressing of a thought
  • She feels guilty for hours and hours
  • The fight against the Boltons is much harder without the Manderlys
  • It’s one of Alethia’s biggest regrets
  • Dany becomes Queen, but barely, and when she loses her mind, Jon has to step up and take the mantle
  • Alethia never becomes comfortable with being Queen of the Seven Kingdoms
  • But she’s damn good at it
  • No, Jon doesn’t go insane like in the dream, but he does acknowledge his Targaryen side that exists in this What if… reality
  • He has the dragons killed
  • They’re beautiful, but they’re dangerous and can’t be controlled
  • Alethia pushes her stuff through and they become equal rulers
  • Cersei and Robert could never
  • They have only three kids, one of which she names after Shireen
  • Alethia and Jon step down from being rulers after their heir is old and responsible enough
  • Live out their days in a keep in Dorne and Winterfell

Chapter 6: What if… Jon had survived?

Chapter Text

  • I’m a mess already
  • I firmly believe that everything would have played out very similarly, except for Alethia’s major depressive episode and getting with Sansa.
  • Still gets preggo on accident
  • Jon supports that it’s her body and her choice, even if he doesn’t really like the idea of abortion, but they decide to keep it
  • Stays King in the North, Alethia becomes his Queen
  • They have 7 children in the end, which is wayyyyy too much in Alethia’s opinion:
    • Lyanna Stark, heir to the North, with gray eyes and dark blond hair, who ends up marrying a certain Barristan Lannister (from our dear Braime) and becomes a Great Queen in the North. Tyrion adores her and always brings her way too expensive presents when he visits. Makes jokes about her paternity since her sass does NOT match Jon’s kingly demeanor
    • Edd Stark, who has green eyes and dark brown hair and never marries (since he’s aroace like his grandmother/uncle, you decide) but joins his sister’s queensguard
    • Alyssa Stark, with light brown hair and violet/blue eyes, who marries Edmure’s and Roslin’s child. Jon says that that boy is too old for her, but she tells him to fuck off and marries him anyways. Alethia makes her wait until she’s old enough and tells Jon that a five-year difference is not too much, but Alyssa has to wait till she’s 18, and not 17 ½
    • Robb Stark, who is Alyssa’s twin and her carbon copy. He’s gay, like his namesake. Alethia explains it to Jon, who understands and totally accepts it. Robb travels the world and eventually founds a sellsword company, and Northern Nobles call him a ‘free spirit’
    • Eric Stark, with brown eyes and brown hair, who becomes a Maester, revolutionizes medicine (thanks mom Alethia!), and then decides that he hates being a Maester. He marries a Dornish princess and is a total simp for her (because that’s what Stark men do best!)
    • Katarina Stark, who looks like a female version of Jon and is Tormund’s fave, even though he will deny it till the day he dies. This girl is an absolute badass, let’s start there. She’s a really good fighter, but she’s so fucking rebellious oml. Goes through her dad’s emo phase, after being a ward in King’s Landing under Shireen. Can kill you with her pinky. Eventually moves to Essos and marries Dany’s adopted heir. Becomes the Empress of East Essos. Alethia sends her a scroll that just says #girlboss when she finds out. Katarina fully understands this message.
    • Morgaine Stark, named after Morgaine Le Faye. She looks like she’s part of the fair folk (according to Arthurian legend). Dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin and Alethia decides to name her after her fave character in that one retelling she read. Please let this girl run wild in the woods and do magic. Loves all her siblings, but most of all Lyanna, who is 12 years older than her and very annoyed. She marries this really sweet Tyrell boy who moves to the North for her, but they eventually build their own keep deep in the forest. Is absolutely a warg and a greenseer.
  • Anyways now that I’m crushed, let’s talk about the fact that Jon and Al would be a total powercouple
  • They both didn’t have ideal upbringings, but they’re the best parents, although very chaotic
  • Alethia speaks German with all of her children, and tells them about her home and her heritage and morals
  • At some point, Edd disappears for four months and Alethia is worried sick, until he comes back and she realizes he portaled back to her world. He doesn’t talk abt it, and Alethia doesn’t pressure him. He eventually tells her he met an Erik Stahl, who apparently immediately knew who he was and took care of him
  • He gives her three pictures Erik gave him: one with his family and him, one of his daughters is called Thea; one with Morgan and her wife, and one with a certain Brayden Collins who became a social worker that took care of children in unfortunate situations/without homes
  • Alethia cries over them for hours and cherishes them so much
  • Shireen’s and Alethia’s children are all close
  • Idk, I feel like Alethia and Jon would make Winterfell this really homey place everyone knows they can come to, there’s always a market, all the children play with the ‘common folk’, everyone adores them as rulers
  • Sansa is the best aunt
  • She loves the twins so, so much and Katarina reminds her of Arya
  • Speaking of which, she also encourages Katarina’s rebellious behavior, even though she pretends to be oblivious
  • Sansa never marries, but she does have a friend in Dorne she visits periodically, who, in turn, comes up North too
  • All in all, the North becomes a very stable kingdom and is left in Lyanna’s capable hands, who is advised by her siblings, Wylla and Lyanna Mormont (bc yes, they got married, and yes, Tormund officiated), and her sweet husband

Chapter 7: What if… Alethia had never gone to Westeros?

Chapter Text

  • Alethia does not make it into Julliard, sadly
  • She decides that she doesn’t have to go into Harvard either
  • And she makes peace with the fact that she doesn’t really want to become a lawyer
  • In fact, Alethia decides to write a novel
  • And then another. And another. And more.
  • She somehow manages to become a fulltime author after some time
  • Cuts all ties with her parents
  • Breaks up with Morgan in the last year of school, since they simply grew apart
  • Has a few more relationships, before settling down in a rural area in Europe, with a few cats and a loving spouse
  • Huh…. Sounds like what I want
  • Seriously, all she does is write books, plant stuff in her garden, pet her cats and sometimes rewatch GoT and think ‘Wow, I’m so glad I didn’t end up there’

 

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