‘Why couldn’t you at least tell me before vanishing?!’ Ironheart silently demanded of his missing clan leader. ‘I thought you trusted me. Maybe you assumed I’d be alright, that I’d somehow guess what you were up to.’

Ironheart snorted quietly. ‘Harebrained idiot’. Despite the trouble Goldenstar had caused, the thought was still fond.

Ironheart shook his head and pushed away the thoughts and sleep-cobwebs in his mind, getting to his feet. There was no precedent for what to do when your leader vanished but was still - hopefully - alive. Still, the clan needed someone leading it, and as loath as Ironheart was to be that cat, he knew what he’d signed up for when he agreed to be Deputy. He could admit that, being the practical cat he was. Traditionally a Deputy took over when the previous Leader died, but Goldenstar was not dead. ‘Not if I have anything to say about it.’ Ironheart couldn’t help that mousebrained thought. He didn’t have much say, of course, in whether his missing leader lived or died when he was further than a tail length away.

Hopefully he could hold off for long enough that it wouldn’t be an issue. And hopefully their fool of a leader would return sooner than later! He wished Starclan would give him some advice, but a journey to the moonstone was not happening anytime soon, if Ironheart could avoid it (and that was the most direct way to interact with the starry cats). He wasn’t meant to be a leader, he definitely wasn’t ready, and -- he cut off the panic that was building, taking a breath and scenting the clan around him. The nests around him were empty - he was the last warrior to stir this morning, apparently.

Ironheart emerged from the warriors’ den and stretched quickly, taking a heartbeat to enjoy the warm sunshine before hurrying over to where a gathering of agitated cats was growing in front of the Highrock.

“What do we do?!” Spiderpaw, Ironheart’s apprentice, meowed, his brown fur fluffed up like a kit’s with his fear. He brushed against the younger cat, hoping to calm and reassure him.

“Ironheart, do you know anything about what has happened to Goldenstar?” Hawkeye asked, appearing less agitated than some of their clanmates, but still visibly concerned. Ironheart shook his head, ears twitching.

“I can only speculate, but I do think that he left voluntarily, and that Goldenstar will return. But I don’t know where he’s gone, or when that return will be.” He worried that he was disappointing his clan, that they wished he knew more than he did. Taking a breath to steady himself, Ironheart got to his paws and padded over to the Highrock, leaping up to look over Birdclan from a midpoint - not where Goldenstar usually stood, at the highest point of the stone. The rock was sun-warmed and smooth beneath his paws. Ironheart looked down at his clanmates, gathered his thoughts, and then spoke.

Primeval and crossover AUs/stories:

"Feral" : Helen shows up in the ARC and darts Connor with something that turns him feral; thankfully, Abby's animal behavior knowledge allows her to soothe the feral Connor. (Completed, but needs some slight fixing/rewriting)

"Saving yourself To save somebody else" aka Feral!Connor take 2: Something has happened to Connor, and now he feels like he is losing his mind, as increasingly he finds himself uncharacteristically angry, reactive, and he even caught himself snarling at Danny, once. Desperate for a solution, he chases down Helen and demands answers. He hates her for killing Nick - and everything else she has done - but Helen is right about him, he's not willing to risk hurting the team, Abby. If Helen knows what this is, how to fix it, fix him, he cant walk away. (Very little written, not sure what my plan for the story was beyond that, iirc i was thinking that Helen at least implies that it's exposure to the anomalies that has caused him to turn feral, and that she has a cure for it; whether that is true or not...remains to be seen)

"Temple twins" : Connor Temple and David Hatter are twins, not that either knows it or knows of the other at all. After the events of Alice 2009, back in wonderland Dodo is resentful and unhappy. In our world, Hatter and Alice are on a vacation in England, coincidentally in the same town where Abby and Connor live. Hatter is leaving the video store when he hears someone in trouble, he follows and sees a man who looks quite a lot like him, actually, being yoinked away down an alley. Apologizing in his head to Alice, he runs after them, because the person doing the yoinking is dressed like a Wonderlander. Something is up. The stranger is pulled through a mirror commented to the Looking Glass; hatter follows, at enough of a distance to be stealthy, to see where they're taking his lookalike. Meanwhile, Alice and Abby are both, separately, wondering and worrying why their respective boyfriend hasn't gotten back from the video store yet. They each decide to go looking, Abby thinking about anomalies, Alice wondering if it's some wonderland intrusion.

They encounter each other at the store, and then realize at the counter that both of them are looking for someone; what a strange coincidence. Store owner is bemused bc he has been wondering if the two near-identical men who had each checked out at his counter were twins or if he was involved in some sort of prank. He tells the ladies yes both guys were in the store and left, about x time ago, one about maybe 5 mins after the other. That's all he knows, except that it's weird that they looked like twins; are they sure this isn't a practical joke? Abby and Alice leave the store together in a state of bewilderment. They decide to look around for the missing guys. Just then hatter appears in the alleyway nearby and rushes to Alice. Abby stares at him. Alice demands to know what happened, where was he, why didn't he text her?

He explains he followed- he glances at Abby. Realizes she's staring. Alice realizes too, and frowns. Abby recovers and says her Connor looks almost exactly like him, except for the hair. Hatter nods slowly, well. He tips his head to Abby while looking at Alice, who shrugs. He turns back to Abby. He tells her, he saw her boyfriend being attacked and kidnapped, and followed them, found out where they took Connor, and came back to find Alice. Abby gets in his space, where is he then! Demands he take her to Connor, so she can rescue him. Hatter pauses. Through the looking glass, he finally says, expecting disbelief. Abby frowns, steps back. She assumes that it's an anomaly and that hatter somehow knows about them and is familiar enough with them to have decided its like the thing from Alice in wonderland...

But it must be coincidental that their names are hatter and Alice, surely. Abby bites her lip, and looks at Alice. Both she and hatter are a bit confused by abby's lack of disbelief. Okay, Abby says, show me. And so our trio go to the looking glass, which Abby is confused by bc it doesn't look like an anomaly, it looks like a mirror, maybe the surface looks more fluid, but...anomalies look like balls of swirling broken glass. Maybe there are anomalies that are not broken? She sets the thought aside for later, Connor will be fascinated, right now she has a rescue mission to accomplish. She goes thru with Alice and hatter, advised to hold hands tightly and to remember to breathe.

Time passes a little differently in wonderland, when hatter went thru following connor's kidnappers, like an hour and a half had passed on our world while only maybe 10mins occurred for anyone in wonderland. hatter went back to find Alice, by the time the trio go through to wonderland together, a other hour or possibly longer has passed on wonderland. In that intervening time, we discover that the unhappy Dodo has had who he believes to be hatter kidnapped from earth and brought to wonderland. He has dosed the confused man with some Tea, of the dwindling and restricted oyster Tea stock left in wonderland after everything went down. (That is all I got to as far as the plot goes, basically. I don't know Dodo's motivations per se or what he hopes to accomplish by kidnapping 'hatter' and dosing him with tea. I wanted to have Connor angsty and depressed from Apathy Tea or something, and Abby to the rescue, I guess lol. Also, Connor and hatter are twins, separated as babies/young children, one sent to earth and one kept in wonderland, and I don't know the why for that either except maybe their parents or the resistance trying to protect Connor specifically or bc hatter had a useful wonderlandian gift or something idk. But progress is halted by these conundrums.)

Temple twins v2/Another Primeval x Alice crossover twins concept: Also involves Dodo or someone else from Wonderland kidnapping Connor and taking him thru the looking glass. But there's no hatter and Alice hanging out in London, instead abby goes looking for her fiance, after she finds out he left the store he went to awhile ago, asks Jess to check security cameras. Sees him pulled into an alleyway, but that's it. She checks, its a dead-end with a weirdly large mirror and some trash bins in the alley. Jess reports no one emerges from the alley in the footage. So, an anomaly. They wait, but no anomaly appears. Abby refuses to accept that connor isnt coming back, that he was pulled thru an anomaly that wont reoccur. She stands sentry.

Abby stares at the mirror. Asks Matt...can anomalies be invisible? Or...anomalies look like broken shards of glass, could something happen to make an anomaly appear 'unbroken'? He has no idea, he's never seen the latter himself...he does know technically the potential anomalies are invisible all over before they open, it's how the future-tech of Helen's had worked, according to connor's notes. Abby declares she thinks that the mirror might be an anomaly. Becker starts to tell her to stop but she goes to put her hand to the mirror, and her fingers go through the surface- she falls into it. Becker grabs his gun and leaps after her. They fall in a heap on the other side.

Later, Becker and Abby have been bickering about what to do, Abby found connor's new hat (she bought it for him, his current style is a mix of how he used to dress and the more neutral style he'd settled for at the new ARC while Prospero was in charge) by a door and they went out that door onto the ledge, and it feels reminiscent of that alternate future, so he's expecting future predators and giant flying ants. Abby insists they can't sit around, and they can't go back and wait for backup, they have to look for connor now that they know he's there somewhere. They move cautiously, but keep going, but they have no idea where to start looking now. Cinceniently they go thru a door and out into a more populated part of new Wonderland, where they run into Alice and hatter who are visiting wonderland for fun! {Note: i decided that the looking glass can deposit people anywhere with an exit point mirror, on earth or wonderland, but you can only go from Wonderland to earth through the actual authorized looking glass}.

Abby and Becker stare at hatter, Abby says 'connor?...' in a small, confused voice. Hatter is confused, Alice holds onto his arm. Things get cleared up eventually, tho Becker and Abby insist that the looking glass must be some sort of anomaly, once they acknowledge hatter's smirky comments about Wonderland and children's stories. Which have Alice laughing a little but hiding her face for their sakes. They become serious when Abby explains connor was kidnapped and brought there. They don't know why hatter looks so much like connor. He apologizes, for abby's sake, yknow how he turns solemn. Abby quirks a smile.

Hatter and Alice promise to help Abby and Becker find and rescue connor. Hatter is p sure it's someone who calls him specifically an enemy, that they must have thought connor was him. But that could mean the former queen's supporters, or maybe doctors dee and dum escaped, or it could be personal. Alice suggests they reach out to Jack. Hatter makes a face. Alice explains jack is the king of Wonderland, after she and hatter helped oust jack's mother. Hatter mutters that they did most of the work of ousting, Alice elbows him. Abby is impatient, Becker is wary, but Abby acknowledges that maybe the king will have resources... hatter makes a face, again. If it is a personal enemy, and not connected to jack...

Alice points out that for all they've visited Wonderland once or twice since Jack took over as king, hatter doesn't really have any current, up to date connections there. If Jack can't help them, they'll try it his way, but she's afraid that something will happen to hatter, too. (And the rest of it actually would be p similar to temple twins 1.0, still the same questions of the plot and motivations, tho. Maybe instead of just dodo, for either or both stories.... hehe adding the Dr's dee and dum to the mix would be angsty fun, and make it a personal thing. Maybe dodo thought he would get some important position in Jack's new court, and instead he's basically just a regular dude now, and he wants to take it out on hatter, or try and use him to manipulate jack, idk. Maybe use him to get Alice and use her to get jack to give him what he feels he deserves. Idk)

Stargate sg1 x primeval crossover, set vaguely s3 for both but later could work probably as well. (I'm up to s5 of sg1 currently) : stargate team off world dials home, but when they walk into the wormhole, they aren't the ones who exit it into the stargate base. Instead, the ARC team find themselves stepping out of the stargate wormhole and surrounded by guns and commands, much to their confusion. The ARC team had merely gone to walk back through an anomaly to their time from the ancient past. Instead, here they are, and even Becker eventually accepts he is outgunned and drops his weapon and joins the others in holding his hands up and open in surrender. (The rest of this concept involves the idea that anomalies are a type of wormhole, or wormholes are anomalies, and the stargate uses them. However, regular anomalies you can enter and exit as you please, stargate wormholes you can only go one-way and then have to redial. Shrugs. Handwavey science! Anyway, the stargate team ends up walking out of the anomaly into England, much to everyone's confusion. Depending on if there's a tineline disparity, which I think there is, I think sg1 s3 takes place in like 2003 at the latest, and primeval s3 is in 2009, sp we have time travel component of course plus state secrets plus aliens being real plus a dinosaur comes thru also after or before the team does, and some complicated convoluted stuff has to be done to get the ARC team to their time and to their country, and the same in reverse for the stargate team except they're in the future and idk maybe England has some knowledge of the stargate program from whispers and hearsay, idk, but yeah. Lots of tension and confusion for the poor teams. But some fun as it gets cleared up for the arc team and they get to interact with sg1!)

Primeval x dragonriders of pern : no solid plot or concept beyond that it would be fun. Probably a fusion au though.

"Daylight" : Connor dies, or seemingly dies in an accident involving an anomaly. He wakes up and no one can see or hear him, though actually if he really tries very hard to exert himself he can, momentarily, communicate or move things, but it is dangerous as he could become a poltergeist doing so. He's not sure what's going on or what to do, he's not entirely sure he's fully dead, either. (Iirc I don't think i completed this story, I think I started doing a rewrite but kept changing my mind. there was a scene where connor finds himself standing in front of an anomaly and nick cutter comes through or is there and tells him he can follow him through or go back, and if he goes back it'll be as a ghost and there's specific limitations, which is where the title comes in, it's harder to make himself visible, much less take physical form or interact with the living world, during the day, easier at night. And yeah if he pushes too hard he can become an evil spirit or something or die again idk. and idk what to do with that. And I think there's a version where science is done and connor isnt dead and comes back. Idk. but regardless it would need a rewrite and I would have to make decisions on the plot and stuff. Possibly was playing on another fic I read but my own direction with it but I can't remember tbh)

Other fandom fics/aus:

Stargate sg1 x dragonriders of pern: as a fusion or a crossover, either would be fun. Not much else than that. (Lots of fun options for a fusion au specifically, but idk if I'd be able to decide what dragon color major Carter should have lol)

Marvel/iron man x dragonriders of pern fusion au v1: tony is a weyrbrat son of the weyrleader, he's a disappointment bc he's been passed over at many Hatchings so far and his dad will only approve if he impresses Bronze. The Gold Ironath decides she wants Tony, which makes life so much more complicated for him.

Later, Tony gets kidnapped by Holdless, and is separated from his dragon by being knocked unconscious and then immediately kept underground so he has no idea where he is, she can't come to his rescue she cant between without a picture, and hes in a cave anyway; his friend Rh'dey and his bronze Jameth help ironath look for tony, he ends up getting himself out (with help from yinsen, who he manages to save in this story!) And they return to the weyr.

Somewhere in there I insert s'teve of bronze rogerseth, who time traveled to the future accidentally but can't go back bc it's too dangerous. Bc yes.

Au V2: Tony is the son of a Lord Holder and/or Master Craftsman, he is friends with rh'dey of jameth and pepper of potseth, but his father disapproves of dragons and dragonriders. At some pt they attend a Hatching anyway bc they got invited, and the Gold dragonet calls tony down from the stands and ambushes him and declares him Hers. Perhaps he is not kidnapped. Idk.

Au V3: Tony, son of lord holder or master Craftsman, is friends with dragonriders, his parents were killed - he doesn't know but Obadiah, who leads as holder in his stead since tony is slightly too young, had them killed. Now tony is about to become of age, and has invented some helpful things for dragonriders and ground crew alike, and Obadiah doesn't want to give up control. He has tony kidnapped to get designs from him while he gets to remain in charge. Tony is injured, but refuses to build weapons for the Holdless. After escaping deeper into the cave system he stumbles upon a wild Wher hatching, and incidentally Impresses a bronze Wher whose name will break the rules and be Jarvisk instead of Tonysk. Idk. Anyway, together they go back and wreck the place and get out of there in time for rh'dey to show up to the rescue. Javersk almost attacks jameth, but tony tells him Stop.

Au v4: Tony is the son of a Lord Holder or master Craftsman, his father is killed, Obadiah is regent or whatever the word is, until tony is old enough. Tony gets Searched, stands at the hatching, or gets invited or is there to see his friends and the hatching happens, either way, gold Ironath chooses him and refuses to consider otherwise. Since Tony can't be lord holder or mastersmith or whatever there shouldn't be a reason for Obadiah to have him kidnapped, but maybe it's bc with Tony being a dragonrider he won't get any of his designs or ideas as he's used to?

Or maybe Obadiah doesn't realize, didn't hear of it somehow, just thinks Tony ran away to the Weyr to his friends there, he sends an invitation/request for Tony to return/come visit. Since ironath isn't old enough to fly him, Tony decides to join a trading caravan heading to his old Hold/hall for the journey, ironath is unhappy but rh'dey and jameth have a slight injury from recent Threadfall and can't fly Tony home, and everyone else is still Weird about the man being a Goldrider, so.

Anyway, Holdless attack the caravan, bc Tony told Obadiah that's how he would be traveling, and they kidnap him and bring him underground, and he doesn't have enough info to tell ironath where he is beyond the general area, which she shares with jameth and rh'dey. Eventual escape happens, and jameth and rh'dey and an irate Ironath come to the rescue. And now Obadiah is mad enough to, actually, go mad. Comes to the weyr and tries to manipulate Tony and then tries to kill him, which doesn't go well for obi. Since. Yknow. Dragons. And while the riders in he weyr have been Weird about Tony being Goldrider, the Dragons are fiercely protective of Golds, and therefore gold riders, and obey them as well, so yeah.

616 marvel x pern au: idk still probably Goldrider tony but different story.

Iron man x warrior cats au: multiple versions and optipns which also includes both mcu and 616 marvel versions of the au. Tony is a normal kittypet / a show cat / a fancy special breed. Befriends Steve who is goldenheart / goldenwing a warrior (or goldenpaw, an apprentice) of Birdclan. There are two clans, Birdclan and Snakeclan, in this story. Possibly also befriends wolfpaw aka bucky. Either Steve's friend or his apprentice depending. Steve talks tony into joining Birdclan. Tony leaves his home behind and does so, and Birdclan accepts him, more or less. Tony becomes Shellpaw (or nightpaw or ironpaw or other possible name)

They train together, Tony becomes a warrior, shellheart (or ironheart?) And they're getting close as friends. The clan leader dies, deputy becomes leader, and she makes Steve her deputy, if he has an apprentice, wolfpaw. Things continue on, and then eventually tragedy leads to the current leader losing her life as well. Maybe leaders here dont get 9 lives, maybe they do but she already lost the rest, idk. They skirmish with snakeclan plenty as well as loners and rogues and other animals. So. Steve becomes leader. Tony, who has had an apprentice at this point, is made deputy. Then, randomly, bucky goes missing on a patrol near twolegplace. And Steve is brokenhearted, and determined to find his friend. Stubbornly, he goes looking for him, but doesn't find him. He is distracted, as leader, leaving Tony pining after Steve And picking up the workload.

Meanwhile poor buck has lost his memory, and also he has vitiligo and over the years his fur has gone from mostly brown to having a lot more white in it, he's been grabbed by equivalent of bloodclan, who press-gang him into joining them. They call him Winter. He joins them attacking other cats, controlling twolegplace, even attacking Snakeclan cats in patrols. They don't recognize him, because as time passes his fur is almost completely white, and they barely knew him when he was an apprentice from the semi-enemy clan anyway.

Back to Birdclan, Steve has over time gone on several solo missions trying to find bucky, but he's also managed to refocus on being a good leader for his clan, he appreciates Tony's support and hard work...they start to drift closer again. Then a loner/rogue that Steve's patrol encounters mentions the violent clan of cats in twolegplace, and also mentions Winter, who he says fights like Birdclan more than the other feral there. Steve's attention is caught and he asks about this Winter.

The loner says he's got almost all-white fur but another rogue told him that it used to be more brown tabby, that it changed color. Steve is sure that this is his friend and former apprentice! He knew wolfpelt's fur was changing colors, though back then it was only flecks and patches. He sends the patrol back to the clan and instructs them to have Tony in charge until he returns. After they do so, he had the loner lead him as close to that territory as he'll go, and heads off to find his friend.

Now in Birdclan, Tony is shocked and frustrated with Steve abandoning them again. Hoping it will not be a long endeavor, he has things continue as usual, just shifts some members of the patrols around a bit. But days pass, and Steve doesn't return. When a moon and more has passed with no word, the clan insists tony must make his temporary assistant his deputy, that he must take Steve's place as leader.

He acquieces, but he refuses to make the trip to the star-place to become leader. He doesn't feel worthy, he doesn't feel that it's right, he refuses to accept that Steve isn't coming back, and he feels guilty because that's the same way Steve felt about losing bucky, and he'd criticized him and now here he is, but he does think he's not the right fit for leader, he almost hadn't taken the position of deputy but Steve had insisted.

Maybe he still thinks the clan doesn't see him as one of them, even tho there's no actual evidence of this? Or maybe really at the core he's afraid that a) if he goes, they will turn him away and won't give him the 9 lives, bc hes not worthy, or b) bc Steve is still alive, or c) that they will, because Steve is dead, or isn't coming back anyway, and it's all a mess in his head. But he manages to lead, anyway, and the clan sort of forget that he is only leader in name, even if he didn't take the suffix star, he acts as leader, and he's been doing that for a long time tbh... but when the two clans Gather, Snakeclan calls him and them on tony not being proper leader. Tony realizes he can't continue avoiding the star-place, he's endangering his clan. If (when, he hopes) Steve does return, he can still step down, or maybe Steve won't want to be leader anymore...

Related, tony knows Steve's feelings for bucky are brotherly, since steve was bucky's mentor (depending on the version of the au, if bucky wasn't Steve's apprentice but was the same age as him, I guess Steve had a different apprentice, and i guess tony could be less certain of how steve feels about bucky in that case) but he isn't sure how Steve felt..feels, about Tony. So he's still pining on top of it all.

Anyway, so tony, shellheart, ironheart whatever, goes to the star-place and meets with starclan, and they don't answer his questions about goldenwing/steve, but his friend isn't among them, so tony feels hopeful Steve is still alive. Tony is given his 9 lives, and his name, and the approval of starclan. Shellstar / ironstar.

OR Steve comes back before tony decides to go, and the bloodclan equivalent are chasing him, and Winter is mixed up, and there's a big brawl and snakeclan is involved maybe too, hydra clan attacked snakeclan as well, anyway so they all fight the bad guys and come out victorious. Uh, and Steve asks if he is still welcome as leader of birdclan, and birdclan is...split about it. But tony is tired, he doesn't want to be leader, not yet, he wants to support his leader, steve. So Steve comes back as leader of birdclan, and tony gets to be deputy, and they get to be in a relationship and be happy, the end. And Winter is there and recovering his memories and adjusting to clan life again. The end.

Also Natasha is in snakeclan, fury is Owlstar, owleye, Clint is in birdclan only bc Hawkeye. Various other characters. Etc. Many other possible versions of this AU exist simultaneously. Yep