Fic: Retrograde, Rei/Minako, PG (1/1)

[diana_lucifera]

Title: Retrograde -1/1
Pairing: Rei/Minako
Rating: PG
Summary: Minako struggles with the realities of her resurrection.
Warning(s): Spoilers through the end of the series
Disclaimer: This story was written purely for personal enjoyment and generates no profit. Don’t sue me, please. That would be mean.
Notes: Did I seriously just write PGSM angst?

Comments

[catchingspirit]

Mm. Except all the girls have died, twice; even if remembering it is to varying degrees, I don't think they'd single Minako out. They all either remember what it was like to die, or don't.

Also, Minako came back for this resurrection as the much more confident and without that hopelessness, or she could never have become more of a risk-taker as we see in the special act. Telling Artemis she has no hope defeats the point of her resurrection, which gave her hope, as she's now seen the restored worlds and her own revival.

Plus, it's arguable she was never frightened of death anyway; never did she seem to fear it, she only went ahead and made her plans so that things would OK once it happened. She looked it straight in the eye, said "Ok, then I have to do this to get ready" and that was the end. That's what makes her so special.

It's sort of debatable how much either the too-focused-on-the-past canon Minako or the freed-from-it-finally revived Minako would lie to the others, though. She kept things from them, but never outright lied about her illness, its effect, the slim chances of the surgery, etc.

Is it also very likely Rei would have questions about how much the past carries over? Most of her characterization centers around the fact she's already decided that for herself, that she doesn't particularly care what Fate says is determined by the past, she refuses to be. It's also somewhat contradictory that Rei asks this so shortly before saying she doesn't care and only wants to live in the now.

[diana_lucifera]

Thanks for reading! It's been over a year since I wrote this and I'm a little loopy on cough medicine right now, but I'll attempt to answer your questions to the best of my ability. :)

Actually, the reason I wanted to address this was due to the fact that Minako was the only one to die, for lack of a better word, normally. Not counting the past life into this, the time the others died was in a blink of an eye, and their resurrection is presented as a sort of reset in time (I tried to make it clear that Usagi is a different case, entirely). I am, of course, taking some liberties, because we are never explicitly told in canon how this functioned. The idea that started this off, however, for me, was the thought that Minako did not die in some battle but of a disease from which she was expected to die, slowly and naturally, and the question for me became "What kind of trauma does coming back from that sort of death leave on the mind?" And I think that is something very different than death by energy blast or even Usagi's very mystical death. Also, Minako was dead for much longer than the other girls, so I can see there being questioning of her if only for that reason.

Theoretically, this would take place in between the last episode and Act Zero, so I don't see how that would have a bearing on whether this is in character, specifically.

I disagree. I think Minako is afraid of death during the series, although she tries to suppress it. Being afraid doesn't make her less brave about her death. But even if she hadn't been afraid prior to that moment, everyone is scared when they are about to die. Even for people attempting suicide, who really want to die, death is frightening, because it is the body's natural inclination to keep itself alive.

The line between lying and deceit is very thin, and in my mind, I don't think this is out of character. You and I might just have to agree to disagree on this point.

I feel it is likely. I think anyone in that situation would be curious, and I tried to be clear that Rei was speaking on more of a personal level than she does in the series. Most of her objection to being ruled by the past life is the idea that it will dictate their future. Here, she is speaking of the actual act of being reincarnated, which I can see her processing differently. The questioning here, so close to her proclamation that she doesn't care, is meant to represent a sort of wavering on her part, as she processes her doubts about her stance on the past life and its effects on the present. It's an attempt to get into Minako's head, too. I should have made that more clear.

Hopefully that helped to clear things up, but if not, feel free to discuss further. The fanfic is hardly a great work of art, but I'm glad it could serve as a vehicle for character discussion.

[catchingspirit]

I'm always about discussion! I've had to get incredibly into character study, as I've been writing some past-life ficcage lately, which obviously doesn't give us much canon to work with.

I can definitely see why you're saying Minako is 'different'; I don't think I'd have said anything at all about that aspect (and I did understand roughly what you were getting at) if it had been fleshed out just a bit more, so maybe consider working that theme in a bit more overtly. (Not that subtlety isn't appreciated, too.)

You could probably convince me about "afraid to die and just didn't show it" if you tried hard enough. Got some good quotes/scenes pointing to it? Typically, you'd expect her to be pretty open with Artemis; I may be overlooking comments she made to him.

[diana_lucifera]

I usually write character studies, or just generally weird things dealing in characterization, so I definitely get that. Also, ooh, past life fic! Love it, but don't know if I could write it. I think it's beyond my skill level, honestly.

Yes, I can see where my attempts at keeping in subtle may have muddled that point somewhat. If I were going to rewrite this fic, that's totally what I would be concentrating on. In the future, I'll have to keep it in mind.

I would totally be willing to have that discussion, but it's one a.m. over here and I've been sick, so I'm going to have to continue this tomorrow, when I have the energy to go clip hunting, okay? :)

[catchingspirit]

I have some past Kunz/Merc, some other with them, and a past Venus/Zoisite (with apologies to your Rei/Minako ship XD)

Fic is hard in terms of subtle vs. clear. On the one hand, you should be able to assume that most, if not all, of your audience will be familiar with your characters and setting. On the other hand, ideally it should still be understandable to someone who isn't. (I don't think there was any problem with that here; a reader can definitely take away the basic messages without knowing the series.) When you're trying to shed light on a new or less-explored aspect or facet of them, though, sometimes a bit more blunt is needed.

Aww, feel better!