Modern AU Where Malleus, Silver, And Sebek Are All Lilias Adopted Sons, But He Goes Around Telling People

Modern AU where Malleus, Silver, and Sebek are all Lilia’s adopted sons, but he goes around telling people he only has two of them; with Malleus as the perfect, cunning heir-apparent and Sebek possessing unparalleled physical prowess, Silver is all but forgotten within the stifling confines of their mansion’s dark halls, forced to make friends with the rats. It’s partly a conscious decision on Lilia’s part—what’s the use in bringing the spotlight down on a boy who’s never learned to hand it?—but also just gross neglect (I’m going through my Lilia was an awful, awful parent headcanon addiction phase again). Still, Silver spends everyday trying his hardest to garner their love and support, voluntarily relegating himself to the role of maid and housewife. For a while, he’s content with such… until the press catches wind of his existence.

This has the potential to devolve into an utterly nasty fake-marriage AU rife with angst and toxic behavior to cover their tracks, but I’ll leave that to the imagination, I guess… :’)

What if, at the very end of Book 7, Malleus decides on a final, suicidal attack… Rather than get caught (i.e. answering to Lilia for what he’s done), he turns his magic on himself and starts a dream that’ll last forever—dragging Silver down with him in the process. In the midst of the battle’s chaotic aftermath, only Lilia and Sebek stop to notice that there are two students who still haven’t awaken… Cue the desperate albeit useless attempts to draw them from the last wonderful world of Malleus’ making. He’ll never let them leave, after all—for so long as he holds Lilia’s son hostage, their family will never break.

(Of course, after perhaps sixty years or so, he finds that Silver’s presence has suddenly disappeared…)

Perhaps the fae soldiers in Lilia's dreams have referred to Silver and company as the "iron ones" (or something similar, according to Twitter translations, lol) not only as a nod to the lore that fae are weak to such metal, but also because human lands are known to be lands of progress, rife with technology that's quickly putting them at quite an advantage. And perhaps that's why Briar Valley has dispatched a part of its army to the deep confines of the forest, hidden behind hooded garbs of green and gray, along with masks to incite fear: It has come time to resort to more underhanded tactics.

Hot take: General Vanrouge had been forced into retirement.

I think that the Knight of Dawn title should be inheritable so that Silver can get a cute little name to match perfectly with his Dorm Uniform card’s Groovy :)

I want Silver’s birth parents to reclaim him and force him into an arranged marriage with the crown prince/princess of an allied country as soon as he turns eighteen. He doesn’t get to see Malleus, Lilia, or Sebek until a few years later, when “his people” are finally ready to start making progress on their Peace Accords with the fae…

And because I am indecisive to a fault and mentally unwell, shit will go down in one of two ways:

Malleus is also wed to another and there is an incorrigible amount of pining on both their parts. Unfortunately, Silver is loyal to his vows—no matter how much he hated making them—and Malleus is under strict orders from his grandmother to preserve the union, so they can only lament the opportunities that have passed them by :)

Malleus has been waiting to marry Silver and is utterly furious to see him courting the enemy. An even worse war breaks out between humanity and the fae, and Malleus makes sure that he knows it’s all his fault <3