Hello! I'm glad you're here!
I would like to start by saying GTA by Rockstar, on a surface level, may seem to be just a violent video game aiming for the player to have a taste of what a felon's life feels like. The character's brutality (as well as the NPCs), the missions that involve mass murders and terrorism, a hint of pornography, and many others have made non-GTA players perceive the game as an irresponsible invention. Nonetheless, its story modes offer a variety of twists and turns, that when you look deeper into them, can bring you to an empathetic understanding of how one becomes the person they are due to relationships, circumstances, or simply, fate.
Some might find this a meager interpretation of GTA stories because of the changes, additional characters, complicated conflicts, and extra plots. For that, I would like to apologize in advance. I hope that your understanding will transcend the superficiality of my writing ideas and style and that I do not and never intend to replace the original story with this that I have played in my mind. This is written for the sole purpose of satisfying my imagination by crafting an alternate universe for the protagonist where he had the chance to live a different life and take a different path with a different person.
My utmost appreciation goes to Rockstar, especially to the Grand Theft Auto story mode writers James Worrall, Paul Kurowski, Dan Houser, Leslie Benzies, David Bland, and DJ Pooh. I would never have had this rekindled spark and desire – the passion to write again – if not for these masterpieces you have shared with the world.
~ Ashmirkier
For the benefit of those who have played/are familiar with the timeline and story mode plots:
*According to Rockstar, Claude's last name may or may not be Speed. Claude Speed was a character from GTA 2. I thought the surname was cool, though, so I'm keeping it.
*Some of the missions were tweaked, although most of them were pretty much how they went in the game. Some dialogues were fleshed out and directly taken from the missions, too. I also put in the end notes the references to the missions. I am not, by any means, taking credit for these.
*The original timeline of the games was not followed to accommodate the events in this AU.
*One major character was way younger here compared to their original age.
*Any detail pertaining to both police and law or other constitutional policies is "inspired" by the general atmosphere that surrounds the lore of Grand Theft Auto. These are not considered factual and accurate to existing laws of the land. For your information only.
I'm not a native English speaker, so I appreciate it if you can correct my expressions and choice of words, or suggest better ways to express things! I also highly appreciate receiving favorites and comments if you like the story! Thank you so much for reading! 3