FRAGMENTS OF A DYNASTY
Based on the TV Show "Tudors"

Summary: Mary only ever wanted to be loved by the people like her mother was.

Pairings: implied Katherine of Aragon/Henry/Anne Boleyn, hint of Mary/Philip of Bavaria, mentions of Mary/Philip of Spain, and parental Katherine/Mary.

Mary had always aspired to be like her mother.

Queen Katherine a daughter of true royal blood. A woman who is willing to put on armour and ride out into battle while her husband is away. A woman who is willing to stand down and be the docile wife as she is commanded. A woman with high intelligence and skilled in manipulating her husband into doing what she wishes (when said husband is not taken in by a harlot). A woman with such dignity that she can suffer poverty and the abuse in order to stand up in what she believes is right. A woman with a beauty that is not apparent because it is a beauty on the inside. A woman of true piety and devotion to the right religion.

Katherine of Aragon was almost a saint in the common people's eyes – a most beloved saint.

Mary wishes to be exactly like her mother.

She had succeeded so far. She was considered a martyr with her suffering through her younger years when she was taken from her mother, stripped from her rightful title, forced to be a servant to her sister, threatened by great brutes that call themselves gentlemen and knights, and lost out on love. She was seen as intelligent, beautiful, graceful, everything the rightful daughter to a king should be. She had proven herself brave and determined in her early days of Queen when she rode into battle against the Duke of Northumberland and dethroned the pretender Lady Jane Grey.

She proved herself merciful as she released all those wrongly imprisoned men from her father's and brother's reign.

She showed herself as a kind Queen as she refuses to harm her cousin Lady Jane. After all it was not Jane's fault that her greedy father in law pushed her on the throne. With Jane locked away in comfort there would be little need to have her beheaded.

She was also proving herself ready to be a mother as she remembered Jane as a little girl that she had loved. Just as she loved Edward and Elizabeth and her many godchildren.

She was proving herself pious as she steadily but determinedly bringing England back into Rome's arms.

She was to be the same beloved saint to her country as her mother was. In fact she maybe more loved since she was the first true queen of England and her mother had only been a consort.

Then it all changed.

There was dissatisfaction throughout the country. The economic situation was terrible, there were more heretics than she thought and no one would return the monasteries or rid of their wives to return to priesthood, there was a sudden need to see her married and no man was right for her, and now people were beginning to think Elizabeth would be the better queen.

Young Elizabeth, beautiful Elizabeth, strong Elizabeth, intelligent Elizabeth, protestant Elizabeth...ignoring the fact that Elizabeth was more of a bastard than Mary.

Mary, ignoring the dissatisfaction as she knew the moment she produced a son like a good woman should they would all love her once more, continued on and chose her husband.

The people began to riot.

They began to call for the Lady Jane or Princess Elizabeth to replace her.

They protested against the idea of a Spanish marriage.

Mary no longer trying to be the saint as she was so very tired, so very lonely, so very desperate to hold her son in her arms and be held by her husband...she just ignored them and continued on with the marriage.

She hacked down the last obstacle in her way – Lady Jane Grey's head – and married the handsome man she desired.

She was no longer innocent.

She looks down at her clean hands and can imagine the crimson blood staining them. She had an innocent girl beheaded. She was no better than her father who had her old governess beheaded.

She was no longer the beloved saint.

Just a Queen who suffered the displeasure of her people.

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