Over the past few months I’ve been sort of overhauling this AU a bit. The story, characters, and parent ships have been changing to reflect how my own preferences have changed over time since I started this blog. In the earliest drafts of L&L, Brendan actually was married to a former Team Aqua grunt, a ship I decided on since I had recently read the Dating a Team Magma Grunt comic series and found it cute. Since Alpha Sapphire is canon in L&L, I had Brendan date a Team Aqua grunt instead. Eve was the fankid for this pairing. Wally and Anabel was honestly a “pair the spares” ship. I wanted Wally to have children and Anabel just seemed like an interesting character to pair him with. This was before SuMo came out and the whole Faller!Anabel plotline and everything.
However, over time, I decided I didn’t want as many canon character/oc ships, and didn’t feel as interested in Brendan’s family anymore, so I merged him and Eve with Wally and Anabel’s family. But really, this choice was mainly since I’d come to ship Wally/Brendan much more in that time. I’d always liked it, but now I wanted them to be endgame. Anabel was still in the ship since I liked Layla, but that was really the only reason. I grew fond of the OT3, but I couldn’t deny that I was mainly shipping it due to Brendan/Wally.
Which brings me to now. With SuMo introducing Faller!Anabel as a concept, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of the Anabel from L&L Falling to another world. The roadblock was that she had a family already, but really, Layla is the only one of her children that has any serious attachment to her in terms of personality, role, etc. Eve and Henry just aren’t quite developed enough yet. So I began to think about a scenario where Wally and Anabel are dating, Layla is born, but then Anabel falls, leaving behind her boyfriend and daughter. Brendan helps Wally after this and over time feelings bloom, leading them to get married and have Rhys, Eve, and Henry. Layla grows up wanting to find out what happened to her mother, which is what leads to her joining Interpol and meeting Faller!Anabel. The two end up with a close bond, Anabel coming to see Layla as her own daughter.
I know I have a follower who really loves this OT3, and I’m so happy that you do, but I just don’t have the same passion for the ship, sadly. This has been a long time coming, since I’ve found writing OT3s is quite hard for me. I have to ship all the characters equally and I just don’t in this case. All the same, maybe once Anabel falls, she meets a Brendan and Wally in another world and has a happy end with them – it’s what she deserves!