Alex never came back to work for Poet.
If Alex never came back to New York to work for Poet, Nox would never have met him. That’s a given. But it would have a cascading effect on Nox’s story. The first notable entry would be Nox likely would never have moved out of the AU building. It was Alex’s encouragement that pushed Nox over the tipping point. Not to say that Nox wouldn’t later do this on his own, but it wouldn’t have been at this moment in the story.
Nox would have continued to live in the AU building, and he wouldn’t have needed his brothers to come out early since he wouldn’t be a mess because of the move (and because he met Alex).
Most of the Last Phoenix would be cut in half because there would be no Alex intermissions. Walker and Harvard wouldn’t have interrupted Nox, and he’d probably already have gone out with them. Nox would still have Drake and the twins by nature of the story. But Nox would still have the nightmare attached to him. His stressors would still be high.
The entirety of Taking Back Erebus would be gone. Which means Nox wouldn’t have the book to learn from. Ant might have gotten the book from Deacon before he gave it to Abraham (the master vampire of Las Vegas who Alex won the book from in a game with Deacon.) But if the book went to Abraham Nox wouldn’t have had it to learn about runes and likely Eddie wouldn’t have shown up.
Which probably means that Jesse found alternative plans for his sons. Probably even taking the boys with him. Which would mean the boys would have turned in a foreign country and likely been killed by the locals, but that’s not till the Fourth book.
The First Vestige would see a lot more problems in it. Several really big issues would come up. When Alec tests Nox by trying to Dominate him, Nox likely would have given in, the predominate reason he didn’t was because Alex would be pissed at him. His own vow of never being controlled again not nearly as big of a deal since he was supposed with friends. But that submission would have lost him Alec, and later Valentina. Alec could have sided with the winning side.
And then there is the whole Nox’s family being kidnapped. If Alex wasn’t there to become Chevalier to Ant, Ant would have been too weak to get them out of trouble and Nox would have had to go in and save them, which means that there would have been torture and pain for his family instead of a quick return home.
The fourth book might have played out more simply. There would be no party in the Hamptons. There would be no alpha for a brother, which is key to when the Venatori come to the Night Life building in the end. But even before that, Griffin wouldn’t have been there to save Nox’s life several times. There might have been other bodyguards, but you don’t know the events would have played out for certain.
Nox would not have a connection to Poet – to find out he’s Prometheus and the second Ascendant. And they wouldn’t have a lead to go on when the Venatori attack at the end of the Power of Succession.
But having all these negative things, there is one fact that still remains, Nox and Alex are soul mates and they, by theory, should be drawn to each other. And Alex knows this and fights it, but he would eventually have to give in. But maybe it’s not until Nox gets rid of that dumb ass nightmare.
So how does that happen when all the vampire Dream Walkers are all pretty evil folks which is why the Venatori hunt Dream Walkers to begin with. So who can help find the nightmare, and eventually kill the demon? Probably Ant’s dad and or grandfather, they aren’t very proficient in Dream walking but I bet they’d know a nightmare when they saw one sitting on Nox’s chest one night. They’d know how to kill it and keep it from attaching itself to Nox. And with the nightmare gone, Nox and Alex could start soul mate dreaming again – falling in love – again. And Alex would come back into his life. And they’d live happily ever after. And this is where Nox yells “not!” because he knows it won’t last long.
The Mind of Nox 
It’s amazing how one small thing can have so many repercussions if it doesn’t happen.
Just like in my Ambrose and Elsie story. If Ambrose and Elsie had stayed together, Ambrose wouldn’t have left town. And because Ambrose didn’t run away to Pinkerlee, a whole slew of characters and subplots would be eliminated. He wouldn’t have met Barbara. If he didn’t meet Barbara, he wouldn’t have gone to Mark Caten’s Funorium and met Isellta and Robin. Isellta and Robin’s entire subplot wouldn’t exist, which would radically change the ending. Also, without Isellta, there would be no Hank or Dave or Jay or Maelin. Preyuna’s role in the story would also be greatly reduced.
If Ambrose and Elsie had stayed together, Hildreth would still exist. But he’d be the Eponine to Ambrose’s Cosette, meaning he would be stuck pining for Elsie in the most unrequited way possible. Hildreth and Elsie would have never become engaged. They would have never become hunting partners, which would kill off a lot of awesome scenes.
If Ambrose and Elsie had stayed together, they very likely would have slept together before marriage…just because they are both very passionate people. Would they get married? I want to say yes, but I can’t guarantee that it would be a happy one. Because without Barbara, Ambrose probably wouldn’t have had that whole desire to become a better person. But who knows? It still could have happened with Elsie.
But, of course, there’s the question of would Elsie want to marry a vampire? Would she ever be able to fully trust Ambrose to want to marry him? How would she have reacted when he told her that he’d slept with other women in the past? Would she ever be able to mentally get past it or would she hold it against him? If Ambrose had stayed with Elsie, I would have had to figure out an answer to all of these questions.
If Ambrose and Elsie had stayed together, he would have never met Raven, who would have never wound up in Pinkerlee too. And without Raven and Robin in the story, Missy and all of her subplots wouldn’t exist.
Basically, if Ambrose and Elsie had stayed together, the whole story would have turned out radically different and it’s just amazing and mindbending to think about it. I’m not even sure what would be happening in my story right now if they had stayed together.
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Yikes! That comment was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Sorry about that!
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hehe no worries. I like comments! Specially yours.
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Aww! Thank you!
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NP :)
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what if’s make for great stories too. AJ has a whole world full of what if’s but we always come back to this what if!
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What If’s make for very intriguing stories. The whole road untraveled.
Robin and Isellta are two characters who could have a whole What If story of their own. Long (back)story short: Isellta is a fey who worked as an assistant to Mark Caten’s daughter, Olessa. Isellta captured Robin for Olessa to do her vampire experiments on. They were mutually attracted to each other from the moment they met. Robin has major denial behavior about his feeling for Isellta, who’s just plain confused about his own feelings for Robin. Robin loses his temper and slaps Isellta’s face. Isellta runs away and gets captured by Mark Caten. Robin and Isellta are separated from that point until the end when they finally get reunited. In all of that in-between space, voth Robin and Isellta come to terms with their feelings for each other and accept them. Sooooo, all that being said, their What If is what if Isellta hadn’t left him? Would they have still figured out that they were in love with each other? Or would Robin have found a different way to push him away? If so, would everything play out the same with Isellta being captured? I would love to write out this alternate take on their story. Just to see where it goes. Of course, I feel the same way about Alternate Ambrose and Elsie’s Story. 😄
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yep. Totally understand that. AJ is in the middle of the whole edit phase and there is a moment of WHAT IF the whole I go up in smoke part of the First Vestige happens in the first book aptly titled the Last Phoenix…. But then AJ said the easiest method of fixing that problem is to name book 3 The Last Phoenix and find a new name for book 1 since while the Last Phoenix plays a part in the story as a group of Dragons… it’s not really about the Last Phoenix, where as that’s perfect for the First Vestige… which really doesn’t have much to do with the first of the ruins (of the vampire culture)
AJ’s alpha and her were talking and I don’t know if they actually found an acceptable name for the first book.
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