Disclaimer- I do not own A Tale of Two Cities, and am not making any money off of this.
A/N: This is my first story I am posting, so I'm sorry if it's not that good. We read A Tale of Two Cities in School and I was bored, so I changed it a bit. I am assuming that if you're reading this, you have read the book, since nothing will make sense if you haven't.
What Would Happen if Sydney Didn't Look Like Darnay
"Could you possibly have mistaken the prisoner for, lets say, my associate, Mr. Carton?" Stryver asked.
Barsad looked quickly between the two.
Sydney Carton was devilishly handsome, with dark brown hair and stormy grey eyes. He had that bad-boy/ rebel look that nobody else had in the 1800's. He was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt with a black vest and black pants. Carton's jacket, also black, was slung over his chair. His white wig, which is necessary attire in the courthouse, was on the desk.
Charles Darnay, on the other hand, looked like a Ken doll. He also was handsome, but in a Prince Charming, too good to be true sort of way. And if something looks too good to be true, it usually is. He also had brown hair, but his eyes were bright blue. His teeth were an unnatural shade of white, and his face looked like it had undergone plastic surgery. (Which it hadn't, seeing as plastic surgery wasn't invented yet.)
There was no way these two looked alike.
"No Mr. Stryver, I am quite certain it was Mr. Darnay that I saw, and not Mr. Carton." Barsad replied.
"Are you sure?" Stryver asked. After all, he was being paid to save Darnay's life.
"Yes, I am very sure" Barsad repeated.
"Very well then" Stryver conceded. "That will be all"
The judge called for a break, while the jury made their decision. Sydney noticed the pretty blonde girl who spoke before, going over to talk to the prisoner. She looked very upset at how the events were proceeding. Sydney decided to be a gentleman and calm her fears. He introduced himself, and told her that there wasn't any real evidence against Mr. Darnay, as all they had were eyewitness accounts. This made her cheer up a bit, and she left him to attend to her father. Before she left, he found out her name. Lucie Mannette.
"What a nice girl" Sydney thought. "So sympathetic to other people's problems, and look! She is helper her father to his seat."
Sydney was interrupted from his musings by the judge banging his mallet.
"Order! Order! Order in the court!" he cried! "The Jury has made their decision. They find the prisoner, Charles Darnay, guilty of treason!"
Lucie let out a gasp and fainted (again). Stryver looked pissed off, and Barsad looked like Christmas had come early. Sydney himself was feeling a little queasy. Everyone else in the room was screaming for blood.
Sydney watched as Darnay was led from the courtroom, but he didn't follow the crowd to watch the punishment. No, Sydney went over to carry Lucie Mannette back to her apartment in Soho, since Dr. Mannette is Old and Mrs. Pross is a weakling.
Lucie was forever grateful to Sydney for carrying her back to her house that dreadful day, and insisted on starting a friendship. After a few years, she fell in love with him. When he proposed, it was the happiest day of Lucie's life.
They were married on a beautiful July afternoon in the nicest church in the city. They took their honeymoon through the Scottish countryside. Dr. Mannette didn't have a relapse (why should he), but he made his daughters husband a new pair of shoes as a wedding present.
Since meeting Lucie, Sydney's life changed. He discovered that it wasn't too late for him to redeem himself, to make himself useful. He finally realized his potential, and left Stryver to start his own career as a lawyer. He never lost another case. Stryver, meanwhile, soon lost all credibility and moved to France, where he hoped to start over on a new life as a mender of roads perhaps, or a woodcutter.
Lucie and Sydney had three children together, Little Lucie, Sydney Jr, and Baby Charlie. Lucie had always loved the name Charles, and now she felt that she owed it to the mysterious man who was killed partly because of her testimony. All three made it to adulthood, since none of them had any bad genes to make them sick. (with Sydney as a father, how could they have bad genes?)
A few years after the wedding, when Little Lucie was 10 years old, Telsons Bank received a letter addressed to the Marquis de Everemonde from a man in France known as Gabelle. Mr. Lorry never found this mysterious Marquis, and the letter remained unopened, in a filing cabinet somewhere in Telsons.
The Cartons had been following the Revolution through the newspapers, and experienced a sudden chill every time they heard about the guillotine being used.
One night, Lucie awoke in the middle of the night and made Sydney promise not to go to France at any time during the revolution. He promised, thinking she was silly for even thinking he would ever go there ever. After all, what kind of person would leave his wife and children to travel to a country where he might surely die?