you are my sweetest downfall
(AO3 Link) by PrincessFiona073 is a The Tudors For Want Of A Nail Alternate Universe Fan Fic where Anne Boleyn is spared execution after she is discovered to be pregnant.
Instead, her marriage to Henry VIII is annulled and she is banished to her estate at Pembroke with her daughter Elizabeth and soon-to-be-born child, never to return to court without permission on pain of death. Much later, Anne's mortal enemy Charles Brandon is also banished to Pembroke under the excuse of inspecting her future child's parentage for displeasing the king. On the day he arrives, Anne goes into labor — and gives birth to four healthy boys, three of them clearly resembling Henry. The story explores the ramifications of the boys' birth, their mother's growing relationship with their uncle Charles, and her lingering love and overwhelming fear of their father, Henry.
Official Summary: AU: In which Anne enacts her sweetest revenge. (Two shot)
Has a series of interconnected one-shots set during and after the story, found here (AO3 link).
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Anne has no issues going to court and begging Henry for something, knowing she's risking her life every time she does so.
- The first time she does it is to beg for the life of the doctor that cared for William during his illness. The doctor had been forced by rebels during the Pilgrimage of Grace to treat them by holding his son hostage. Henry acquiesces to her request, out of his lingering fondness for Anne and anger at Cromwell.
- The second time is to beg for Charles' life and his son Henry Brandon's inheritance, the duchy of Suffolk. Henry only relents with the latter, as the political climate won't allow the former. He does, however, allow Charles a simple beheading opposed to a drawing and quartering.
- Alternate History: One where Anne Boleyn lives, gives birth to four sons, and is eventually reinstated as Queen of England.
- Arcadia: Anne comes to like living at Pembroke much more than she ever did at court, due to more time with her family and more chances to give back to the community through charity.
- The Atoner: Just like in history, Anne is deeply remorseful of her previous treatment of Mary and seeks to make amends after she's reinstated as Queen. Mary is understandably hesitant at first but nonetheless meets her halfway for the sake of her younger siblings. Anne first helps her by ensuring she gets married to a man she loves and is allowed to have her own family, letting her have a degree of happiness, and again when she helps George write up a new Act of Succession that puts Mary back in line for the throne (albeit, after all of Anne's children and their descendants). Mary is so grateful about the latter that she opts to name her second and last child after Anne, showing that she's full forgiven her stepmother for her previous actions.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Anne and Charles passionately declare their hatred for each other before screwing each other's brains out.
- Bittersweet Ending: Anne's name is cleared, she is reinstated as Queen, and her children are restored to the succession, all of them going on to become successful monarchs, consorts, or courtiers. However, Charles is dead, and Anne and Henry have to live with each other and the weight of everything that's happened between them, with it taking over a year for them to fully patch up their marriage.
- Dead Guy Junior: Anne names her four sons after her brother and three of her alleged lovers (the exception being Henry Norris, for obvious reasons), both to spite Henry and to honor them for their innocence. Fittingly, George, the eldest and the one named after her brother, is the one to succeed Henry as king.
- Death of the Hypotenuse:
- Jane Seymour dies early in the second chapter, taking her son along with her.
- After Cromwell's confession, Charles is arrested and executed for framing Anne, taking out the last obstacle for Henry and Anne's re-marriage.
- Final Speech: A justified example, as the speech-giver, Thomas Cromwell, isn't dying so much as about to be executed, and has the right to give his last words to the public. Said speech is his confession about his frame-up of Anne, simultaneously exonerating her and condemning Charles in one fell swoop.
- For Want Of A Nail: Anne is spared the executioner's block thanks to being diagnosed as pregnant, with Henry opting just to exile her from court instead. This leads to Anne giving birth to four sons, each of whom are obviously his. This causes a cascade of changes:
- Jane's position as Queen is far more precarious, especially because the birth makes it clear that Henry is still in love with Anne. While she still falls pregnant with Edward, a combination of stress and illness causes her to go into premature labor, which kills her and her child.
- Catherine Willoughby dies of illness during Anne's pregnancy, which frees up Charles to be sent to Pembroke to watch over Anne and her children. This is eventually what allows Anne and Charles to begin their own relationship.
- Like Jane, Cromwell's position loses its security much faster due to Anne's survival. Ultimately, because of this Henry refuses to marry Anne of Cleves, and does not marry Katherine Howard or Katherine Parr either.
- Because Anne survived, Cromwell is prompted to confess his Frame-Up of her at his execution as an act of repentance. This condemns Charles and leads to his execution, while also allowing Anne to be reinstated as Queen, with her children (re-)legitimized.
- Thanks to their legitimization, the course of history is changed radically. Her firstborn George is the one to succeed Henry as King, her second oldest son Mark is made the King Consort to Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth ends up becoming the Queen of France instead of the Queen of England.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Even though he believes Anne cheated on him and never truly loved him, Henry is still furious when he realizes she's sleeping with Charles. This jealousy only grows when he realizes that his sons view Charles as a father-figure. Even so, Henry still takes no pleasure in ordering Charles's execution.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The Seymours. During the first chapter, they're on top of the world as the King's in-laws and even Anne giving birth to four sons doesn't change that (though they do panic briefly and scold Jane for not falling pregnant faster). When Jane does finally fall pregnant, it seems like nothing can go wrong. Then Jane falls ill and dies, taking her son along with her. By the time Anne becomes Queen again two years later, they're long gone from court, never to return. To make it worse, there is some implication that their sister was no longer recognized as a former Queen. In order to legitimize his sons after Anne's innocence was proven, Henry had to reinstate their marriage. That means any subsequent marriage after the initial annulment had to be annulled in turn, including his marriage to Jane.
- Irony: Henry gets rid of Anne because he believes she's unable to give him a son. When Anne turns out to be pregnant, he spares her life but nonetheless annuls their marriage. Anne then gives birth to four sons, who are quite obviously his. As one person puts it, she made him look like "the biggest fool in all of Christendom".
- Laser-Guided Karma: Everyone who played a major part in Anne's downfall suffers in the end.
- Jane Seymour, the woman who stole Henry's affections from Anne, falls ill during her own pregnancy and goes into an early labor that kills her and her son. Her brothers, the ones who coached her on winning Henry's love, see their power broken immediately and are forced to return to Wolf Hall within a year of her death.
- Much like in canon and historically, Thomas Cromwell is framed for treason after Henry's failed courting of Anne of Cleves, and is executed. His guilt and Anne's presence at his execution later compels him to confess his frame-up of Anne.
- Charles Brandon and Eustace Chapuys are both executed for their own parts in the conspiracy. Charles, at least, is given a simple beheading after Anne pleas with Henry for mercy on his behalf.
- Henry himself gets his wife back and now has the male heir he's always desired, plus three spares; but now has to live with the fact that he executed four innocent men (one of whom was his brother-in-law) and nearly had Anne executed as well.
- Love Dodecahedron: The original Love Triangle of Anne, Henry, and Jane, is further complicated by Charles falling for Anne after being Reassigned to Antarctica. Ultimately, Jane and Charles die, allowing Anne and Henry to get back together.
- Open Secret: Anne's affair with Charles becomes one within days of her first return to court. The two try to keep their distance to quiet the rumors, with Charles even openly flirting with several women, but it fails after Henry orders them to dance a volta together, displaying the passion between them.
- Parental Substitute: As he and Anne grow closer, Charles serves as a surrogate parent to all five of her children. Even after Henry acknowledges his sons, Charles is still their primary father figure because he actually lives with them while Henry only visits them once a month.
- Reassignment Backfire: Henry sent Charles to the estate of Henry's ex-wife Anne, a woman Charles despises with every fiber of his being, as a thinly-veiled punishment. Charles instead falls in love with and starts sleeping with Anne, much to Henry's fury and jealousy. To make it worse, he even becomes his sons' dominant father figure.
- Together in Death: Per Anne's last wishes, she's buried with her brother George in an elaborate tomb she had his body relocated to after she was reinstated as Queen.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: A rare case where the person getting vengeance isn't actively seeking it out, but gets their revenge anyway. Every time someone who wronged Anne gets their just desserts, she feels no satisfaction from it; just a void in her heart. In the case of Charles, who she has long since forgiven, she's outright devastated by it.
- We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed in the case of Henry and Charles. While they still consider each other friends, they're obviously no longer as close due to Charles' relationship with Anne. Even finding out that Charles framed Anne for adultery doesn't change this; while Henry still orders his execution, knowing that the people won't settle for anything less, he finds no pleasure in it.
