Dark Armor: Writing Considerations

This isn't going quite as I'd envisioned it, either. 

I mean, I don't think it's horrible. I don't even think it's uninteresting. It's just... not going quite where I want it go. I'd have to force it to get back there, back to the beats I want to hit and the progression I want work through. 

In the first version, Pallian would have slain his brother Ravaj, freed the Shadow of Edrias, and then returned to his father's citadel and tried to keep both betrayals a secret. I'm not sure quite where that would have led, but it wasn't where I was aiming for. (Might have been an interesting story in its own right, though.) 

In this version, Pallian gets captured and his father's response brings home to him that he can't continue to serve as his father's champion, and as a result likely can't remain in his father's court. Also a potentially interesting story, but again not building towards the things I want out of this particular bit of writing.

So now I'm wondering whether to continue this anyway, just for the sake of making progress and seeing where it goes, or stop here and start again with version three after making a couple of fundamental changes to the background and setup.

Version Three would have Pallian -- or rather, the Black Knight -- taking more of a command role: publicly advising his brother on strategy, leading troops rather than riding off on his own, and encountering the Champion of Edrias on the battlefield rather than in passing behind the lines. I think it would work better for what I want, but I may actually have to start writing it that way to find out. 

Thoughts?