Title: Past Imperfect, Future Unprecedented
Rating: T
Spoilers: movies 1 & 2
Characters: Selene, Michael, Viktor, Amelia
Archived: ffnet
Disclaimer: Underworld and all related characters, scenes, plotlines, etc. don't belong to me but the rest of this story does. Don't steal.
Warnings: AU
Summary: What if...Kraven, not Viktor, had been Selene's sire? If Viktor had been forced to repeat Sonja's punishment on Selene? If...well, make what you will of the last one. A set of AUs
Author's Notes: [ Everything past this point was written 6-12 months ago...so when it says 'that I watched last week' or 'I can't stop thinking about it', that's in the past tense]

Amelia's a part of this one, mainly because I got to thinking about how hard it would be for a woman to become a respected warlord in Alexander's time. I really wish they'd taken time to flesh out her character more.

What if...

…(this one's a bit farfetched) post-UWE Selene somehow met pre-RotL, William-hunting Viktor?

Selene tried not to react, she really did. Six hundred years of experience kept her silent through his empty praise and speeches about loyalty. Surprisingly, what pushed her over the edge was not his dishonesty or hypocrisy.

It was his slandering of lycans.

"We are all Corvinus!" she snarled into his stunned face. "Fangs or fur, bat or wolf; we are all from the same stock whether you like it or not!" she could sense his growing anger but was not about to be derailed, not even by Michael's quiet, desperate tugs at her sleeve. "It was the same virus, Viktor, and you know it. Your slaves are equal to your soldiers and you…" she had to pause for a second to consider what would be most insulting. It didn't take long. "You are no better than William."

"Enough!" while her voice had been a snarl, his was a roar. He slammed one hand into her chest, literally throwing her across the clearing and into a tree. She hit hard, snapping her back in the ensuing the fall. Michael was instantly at her side.

"I don't know who you are, mongrel, but I will not allow you to blaspheme in such a way!" Viktor gestured to his men who had been uncomfortably pretending not to hear the…conversation. "Crossbows up!"

He nodded in approval at the quick reactions.

"Take her alive, men. Barely."

The sharp whistle of bowstrings and arrows he was expecting did not come. Instead, whispers and gasps of disbelief spread through the ranks.

"What is it now?"

"M'lord…she's gone!"

"WHAT?! Impossible! Her back is broken!"

Nevertheless, the transgressor had vanished, leaving nothing behind, not even a spot of blood.

"Find her! Catch the traitor!"

"Lord Viktor."

"Amelia." He turned towards his second in command with a nod of welcome.

The rasp in her voice, a remnant of her final injury as a human, was a welcome sound. Turning her had been a big risk but it had paid off; Viktor was a fighter and a manipulator, not a politician. Amelia was a fighter, a manipulator, and a politician. In order to be a woman warlord, she had to be. To retain the respect of her men, she always had to be at least twice as smart and three times as deadly.

"What is this Viktor? Who was that?"

"I don't know."

FIN