14. If I were to write a sequel to this fic, what would it be about? For Light of a Pole Star, it's currently my favorite story, so I'll always want more, lol :D
Oh! I love this question XD Iām honestly terrible about sequels. What I mean by that is that I plan sequels to most of my fics, I just never write them because effort. I am literally that bad at finishing things that even when I do finish something, my brain is immediately like ābut what if it wasnāt finished, huh?ā
So, I have a couple of ideas for a sequel to The Light of a Pole Star =D
The first one is basically; whatās Ed and Royās next life like? Theyād be born (roughly) in the 70ā²s, which could make for a kind of hilarious 90ā²s high school setting. Iāve tried not to indulge myself with thinking about it too much, honestly, because it would be so far removed from most of FMA that it would, basically, be original fiction, except thereād be automail and alchemy.
But it would be really interesting to play with the politics, especially given the fact that Amestris has just recently (in the last fifty years or so), gone from a military state to a trade-hub. Iād honestly like to make one of them Ishvalan again, probably Roy, because that would give me a chance to play with that whole ball of issues and take a look at what thatās like fifty years later, how things have changed or not changed, etc. And I kind of like the idea of Drachman exchange student!Ed, idk why, probably because of the idea of him coming across all volatile and anti-social when actually heās a huge nerd that just doesnāt know how to people, and Roy being the only one whoās figured that out and finds him hilarious instead of frightening.
Anyway, I still donāt know if Iād want to have them, somehow, find out about their past lives all over again, but the answer is probably not, because that would take them attempting human transmutation, and... while it could be fun to maybe have them try it together, like the arrogant self-sacrificial twits they are, it could also be fun to not. What I would honestly love to try and include, though, is someone who knew them before, perhaps a very old Elysia Hughes, meeting these two snot-nosed kids and knowing.
The second one would be Al/Nina centric, and focused on, you know, a decade or so later, and Nina dating left right and center to try and get over this quiet but persistent little crush she has on her ābig brotherā, and Al trying to be all dignified and noble and suffering in silence as he pines uselessly over her from afar, and Ed getting very frustrated with this and playing match-maker (possibly with Hughesian help).
I was just very tempted, when I came up with the ship, to come up with a bunch of past lives for the pair of them, like I did for Ed and Roy. So far, all I have is the lives mentioned in the story, but I was really tempted to expand it and try to figure out a dozen more. I also really like the idea of writing a grown-up human-chimera!Nina who was raised in a brothel.
One of the main plotlines of the story, I think, would be that Al has decided to publish a series of historical āfictionā romance stories. =D As you said in your comment, it would be awesome, and, honestly, I canāt see any of the others who remember actually writing them. Ed, I think, honestly wouldnāt want to share that much of himself with the world. With his friends, itās different, but sharing his past lives with strangers? I really canāt see him wanting to. And Izumi is the same, with an even bigger helping of āfuck you thatās privateā than Ed. The only people sheās ever really talked to about her lives are Sig and Ed (and probably eventually Al). And Roy... Roy would talk about it, but I canāt see him actually doing it? Heās busy as hell anyway, but also, sharing his past lives means sharing Edās, and he wouldnāt do that to Ed when he can tell Ed wouldnāt like the idea.
But Al? Nina doesnāt remember, and heās resigned himself to never actually being with her in this life. He hurts, even if heād never admit it, and it would be a romantic sort of catharsis for him, a way to feel closer to Nina. Itās a little difficult to figure out the logistics, though, because my initial idea for Al/Nina was that most of their lives tended to be very tragic and cut-short, so Al wouldnāt have as many lives as Iād like to draw on, but that could easily be fixed by having him remember more, and/or making it less an overwhelming tragedy and having it more that a not-insignificant number of their lives were tragic and cut short, maybe a little less than half, sort of thing. Still, however Iād decide to do it, if I did decide to write it, Al would write these books (one of which would be Meir/Perry, of course), and Nina, telling herself itās only what a supportive little sister would do, buys and reads them all without actually telling Al that sheās doing so.
And eventually, it dawns on her that every single one of these books is a love-letter to characters very much like her. And then, obviously, she finally does something about it, much to Edās relief. (Also, just picture Alās face the first time he sees Ninaās bedroom, and there, sitting pride of place, is every last one of his books, imagine his face when Nina admits she loves them, that they resonate with her in a way no other book ever has, and Al has the same revelation that Ed does; she doesnāt know she knows, but she does know.)
Those are the two that are the most solid in my head, but there are honestly so many aspects of this story that I love and want to explore more that I could go on for hours with āwhat if I wrote a sequel/spin-off/prequel about...ā XD
