#commanders sole brainccell
Imagine if PoF had happened before HoT. Mainly, imagine Trahearne coming off the ship, to find the Commanders body after the departing. Imagine him dropping to his knees with an earth shattering keen as he finds them, twisted beyond recognition, burned to a lump, and swears to the shattered armour that he will show that impostor of a God what real fury looks like.
Imagine his reaction when the Commanders chest stretches with breath, as they gasp and choke as they come to. As he cradles them as they ask about Aurene and stagger to their feet, him holding them up as they did for him in Orr
Damnit Sole!
Kasmeer teleports them to the smouldering and smoke covered pillar of rock and the first thing that greets Trahearne is the colour of dark grey smoke.
The second thing to greet him is the smell.
Thick and choking.
Tear summoning and gag inducing.
Stomach turning and hope plummeting.
The smell of spilt and burnt blood, of overcooked flesh and meat, of melted metal at too high of a heat, of hair caught on fire.
He weezes as he steps away from the teleportation pool and the sound of beating sap drowns out Rytlock’s whine, drowns out Kasmeer’s gagging, drowns out Canach’s swearing, drowns out Vlast’s cry as the Dragon lands.
And for a second, the smoke clears.
The last thing to greet Trahearne is the Commander.
Near ripped in two, charred black skin cracked into tiny sections, hair burnt away, splayed out over blood soaked sand and eyes open but unseeing.
He doesn’t remember screeming.
He doesn’t remember stumbling over.
He doesn’t remember his knees hitting the mixture of sand, glass and blood.
He does remember throwing out one of the few group healing spells he knows.
He does remember gently laying his hands on the Commanders’ cheeks, trying to get unseeing eyes to focus on him.
He remembers thinking “I can raise the dead.”
hnnngh
I kinda wanna make a pacifist Commander who’s just…filled with rage
just, refuses to start wars but 100% get called in the finish them - tries to do so with minimal damages and just…hates all this fighting and violence… probably tries to get the villains to see the error of their ways or just… fukkin snaps at at least one or two points in the story and adapts a “I’m a pacifist but” mentality
What If - The Commander is prophesized to die. Everyone knows they will die - maybe at a certain point, but they don’t know.
Everyone in Destiny’s Edge and the Pact/Personal storyline quietly not getting close. Keeping them at an arms length, because they know. They know that one day they’ll stumble when they can’t afford to, and the stars demand blood more than any god in the desert and this person they’re trying not to know will be wiped from the records
Who gave you permission to stab my heart?!
…
The first person outside of family to get to know you is your mentor. Forgal is old, but beyond that, he a Norn he has many stories he celebrates what’s one more? Sieran is young but most of all, she is curious and curiosity always wins out. And Tybalt, Tybalt’s a Charr, a Charr who survived the death of his Warband, who knows the feeling of loneliness all to well.
But after they die? Well…
Trahearne is a firstborn and too fixated on Orr to befriend anyone. There’s a striking silence when he calls you Commander (and you hate that title because it gives an excuse to people to not treat you as a human). And as soon as Zhaitan is delt with, you’re left in the dust.
You never tell Kas, Jory, Braham, Taimi or Rox your name when you first meet them and never once do any of them ask after Scarlet is delt with.
The prophecy is the reason why Caithe takes the egg and runs rather then sitting down an talking. The whisper of Mordramoth is just an excuse.
You don’t bother rallying the five races together, you know they’ll use you to get their dirty work done only to turn around and blame you for it needing to be cleaned in the first place (it’s happened to you before and as they say, once burnt twice shy) you also know they’ll never listen to you.
You’re not told when the Pact takes off and flies into the Heart of Maguma. You only find out about it because airships start dropping from the sky on top of you as you’re tracking Caithe down (You don’t want to be chasing after her but you known if something happens to that egg it’ll be on your head - just like everything else).
