Guest Reccer - Top Ten 'The Sentinel' AUs
Yay! It’s my day!
Let’s face it - no matter how whacked your canon, there’s only so much manipulating you can do before suspension of disbelief gets thrown out the window (to land with a nasty bump on the sidewalk.) I love AU fics for two reasons - one, we get to see the ‘what if’ situations that most shows never give you, and two, the sheer amount of fun you can have dumping the characters into crazy alternative lives. Regency romances! Movie plots! Pastry chefs! (SGA fandom, I am looking at you.) On top of that, The Sentinel was one of my first real fandom loves.
1. The Long Goodbye by Kikkimax - Prison guard Jim Ellison struggles to prevent the impending execution of serial killer Blair Sandburg, AKA the Manifesto Murderer.
What if Blair was a convicted felon and Jim was his prison guard?
I love this fic for the way the relationship develops between Jim and Blair, with Blair in his cell and all the guards knowing he didn’t commit the crime, and Jim’s struggles with himself and with the law to try and free him. It’s so totally plausible within the Sentinel universe - Jim leaves the force because of his Sentinel powers, and tries for something quieter. Blair is protecting someone and taking what he sees as his punishment. I want to read it all over again just thinking about it.
2. Moonhunt by Dolimir - Extract: They were close, closer than he had expected. Pushing himself off the wall, he ran down the middle of the street. There was no point trying to hide in the shadows.
What if Blair is a Guide who doesn’t want to be bonded, but Jim wants him anyway?
Jim/Blair. Basically I like Jim hunting Blair down and Blair trying stubbornly to get away and not have to be a guide. It’s a thing of mine.
3. Conjugations by Legion - Extract - Test, all of five years old, snuggled into Sentinel's lap, and asked dreamily, partly mesmerized by the age-old call of the flame, tired from a day filled with new ideas, new people," Has it always been like this? Is it like this *ev'where*?"
The adults traded looks, but Shaman said softly, "No, child. Only the sky and our spirits are eternal and unchanging. Man has his good times, and his bad."
"You're talking about the Chaos." Test stirred himself, sitting a little straighter, curiosity burning away his sleepiness. "Was it that diff'rnt, *really?*"
"Yes, it was," Sentinel said calmly, though all present looked saddened or angry or frustrated at the memory of what had been. "Yes, it was...."
What if the world ended, and Jim and Blair had to take charge?
Jim/Blair. An Apocalyptic AU, in which Jim and Blair’s skills come in useful for the survivors, and we see how their society changes and evolves to suit their new lives. Plus desperate, longing sex, where they need each other and can’t always have each other. Jim and Blair become Sentinel and Shaman, fitting into their new roles with the ease of being born for it.
4. Bid Him Come, Bid Him Go by Legion - Extract - Leaning heavily on his cane but trying not to show it, Lt. Colonel James Ellison, retired, glared at the real estate agent fumbling with her keys and bit back a sharp remark. If the woman had just shown him the kinds of places that he'd asked about when they'd started today, instead of what she thought he'd like better, they wouldn't both be short-tempered and frustrated now.
Jim/Blair. What if Jim and Blair never met until Blair might already be dead?
I love here how Legion has presented Blair-as-ghost, growing to be more and more of a presence in Jim’s life until he’s almost but not quite there, they’re together but they can’t quite be, and both of them living with wondering if they’re crazy. There’s a real sense of connection in this fic.
5. Imperfections by Dasha. Summary: If Blair's washing out of the guide program, who's taking care of Jim? Crossover with Monk.
What if Jim is being abused by his Guide and Blair is the only one who can help him?
6. Love Amidst the Ruins by Boyd - Extract - Crouched on a branch ten meters above the forest floor, Blair sought his companion with worried eyes.
"How many?" his nearly subvocal whisper barely vibrated the still, damp air around them. Beside him, Black Kali, Jim's battle cat, twitched restlessly, fur brushing against his bare thigh. Her gleaming yellow eyes watched the Hunters move stealthily through the dense vegetation below.
Two and a half meters away, nestled in the crotch of a massive branch and nearly invisible in the concealing foliage, Jim tapped a closed fist on his open palm and held up six fingers: a Hunting Pod.
Shit!
What if Jim and Blair were post-apocalyptic freedom fighters?
Jim/Blair. Okay, basically this fic is just awesome. Jim and Blair, hunting aliens in the jungle, moving from tree to tree in a post-apocalyptic world of the future. Kinky in some places, just freaking cool in others.
7. Sentinel, Interrupted by Elaine. Extract: Jimmy Ellison was interested. And worried. He was the only un-guided sentinel in his class; some of his group had been paired with their guides for nearly two years.
Jim/Blair. What if Jim and Blair had first met as Sentinel and Guide kids, then were separated for thirteen years?
I love her Jim - grown up and young at the same time, after spending so long without a Guide, and Blair’s instant decision to look after him so they can be together.
8. The Last Experiment by Marilyn. Extract: Jim couldn't imagine Blair Sandburg driving off to the corporate wasteland in a rental car. And yet, he would not have believed that the quiet, driven man typing away on his dissertation night after night these past few months was the same free spirit who once refused to abandon the roller coaster for the merry-go-round.
Jim could not pinpoint the moment Blair had decided they were a lost cause. He had, to Jim's mingled relief and shame, initially rationalized his reaction to Alex Barnes as instinctive Sentinel behavior. In fact, Blair's first words following his near-fatal drowning had been to comfort and reassure Jim.
What if Blair left before he gave his dissertation to work for a Fortune 500 company instead, leaving Jim?
9. Breaking the Silence. I’m not sure of the author. Extract: We found twelve bodies these last four months and every week another dead kid turned up in a dumpster in a deserted alley. It has to stop.
What if Jim and Blair meet because Jim is saving him from a kidnapping ring that planned to sell him (‘cause he’s just that damn pretty)?
10. On the Run by Arnie. Extract: Huddling down in the corner of the café booth, Blair wrapped his hands around the coffee cup and relished the warmth he could feel seeping into his frozen fingers. Being on the run in the middle of a Cascade winter was no joke.
What if Blair had been on the run from Alex Barnes, who wanted to bond with him, and found Jim instead?
Arnie’s fics are sometimes unnecessarily overcomplicated, but this one is really quite good. Blair is constantly trying to escape, because he thinks it’ll be better for Jim, but Jim is having none of it. Plus some of her own original characters who appear in most of her fics, that we also end up loving.
(ETA: I was having problems, for no apparent reason, getting my links to work. Should be fine now. Let me know if it isn't.)
Let’s face it - no matter how whacked your canon, there’s only so much manipulating you can do before suspension of disbelief gets thrown out the window (to land with a nasty bump on the sidewalk.) I love AU fics for two reasons - one, we get to see the ‘what if’ situations that most shows never give you, and two, the sheer amount of fun you can have dumping the characters into crazy alternative lives. Regency romances! Movie plots! Pastry chefs! (SGA fandom, I am looking at you.) On top of that, The Sentinel was one of my first real fandom loves.
1. The Long Goodbye by Kikkimax - Prison guard Jim Ellison struggles to prevent the impending execution of serial killer Blair Sandburg, AKA the Manifesto Murderer.
What if Blair was a convicted felon and Jim was his prison guard?
I love this fic for the way the relationship develops between Jim and Blair, with Blair in his cell and all the guards knowing he didn’t commit the crime, and Jim’s struggles with himself and with the law to try and free him. It’s so totally plausible within the Sentinel universe - Jim leaves the force because of his Sentinel powers, and tries for something quieter. Blair is protecting someone and taking what he sees as his punishment. I want to read it all over again just thinking about it.
2. Moonhunt by Dolimir - Extract: They were close, closer than he had expected. Pushing himself off the wall, he ran down the middle of the street. There was no point trying to hide in the shadows.
What if Blair is a Guide who doesn’t want to be bonded, but Jim wants him anyway?
Jim/Blair. Basically I like Jim hunting Blair down and Blair trying stubbornly to get away and not have to be a guide. It’s a thing of mine.
3. Conjugations by Legion - Extract - Test, all of five years old, snuggled into Sentinel's lap, and asked dreamily, partly mesmerized by the age-old call of the flame, tired from a day filled with new ideas, new people," Has it always been like this? Is it like this *ev'where*?"
The adults traded looks, but Shaman said softly, "No, child. Only the sky and our spirits are eternal and unchanging. Man has his good times, and his bad."
"You're talking about the Chaos." Test stirred himself, sitting a little straighter, curiosity burning away his sleepiness. "Was it that diff'rnt, *really?*"
"Yes, it was," Sentinel said calmly, though all present looked saddened or angry or frustrated at the memory of what had been. "Yes, it was...."
What if the world ended, and Jim and Blair had to take charge?
Jim/Blair. An Apocalyptic AU, in which Jim and Blair’s skills come in useful for the survivors, and we see how their society changes and evolves to suit their new lives. Plus desperate, longing sex, where they need each other and can’t always have each other. Jim and Blair become Sentinel and Shaman, fitting into their new roles with the ease of being born for it.
4. Bid Him Come, Bid Him Go by Legion - Extract - Leaning heavily on his cane but trying not to show it, Lt. Colonel James Ellison, retired, glared at the real estate agent fumbling with her keys and bit back a sharp remark. If the woman had just shown him the kinds of places that he'd asked about when they'd started today, instead of what she thought he'd like better, they wouldn't both be short-tempered and frustrated now.
Jim/Blair. What if Jim and Blair never met until Blair might already be dead?
I love here how Legion has presented Blair-as-ghost, growing to be more and more of a presence in Jim’s life until he’s almost but not quite there, they’re together but they can’t quite be, and both of them living with wondering if they’re crazy. There’s a real sense of connection in this fic.
5. Imperfections by Dasha. Summary: If Blair's washing out of the guide program, who's taking care of Jim? Crossover with Monk.
What if Jim is being abused by his Guide and Blair is the only one who can help him?
6. Love Amidst the Ruins by Boyd - Extract - Crouched on a branch ten meters above the forest floor, Blair sought his companion with worried eyes.
"How many?" his nearly subvocal whisper barely vibrated the still, damp air around them. Beside him, Black Kali, Jim's battle cat, twitched restlessly, fur brushing against his bare thigh. Her gleaming yellow eyes watched the Hunters move stealthily through the dense vegetation below.
Two and a half meters away, nestled in the crotch of a massive branch and nearly invisible in the concealing foliage, Jim tapped a closed fist on his open palm and held up six fingers: a Hunting Pod.
Shit!
What if Jim and Blair were post-apocalyptic freedom fighters?
Jim/Blair. Okay, basically this fic is just awesome. Jim and Blair, hunting aliens in the jungle, moving from tree to tree in a post-apocalyptic world of the future. Kinky in some places, just freaking cool in others.
7. Sentinel, Interrupted by Elaine. Extract: Jimmy Ellison was interested. And worried. He was the only un-guided sentinel in his class; some of his group had been paired with their guides for nearly two years.
Jim/Blair. What if Jim and Blair had first met as Sentinel and Guide kids, then were separated for thirteen years?
I love her Jim - grown up and young at the same time, after spending so long without a Guide, and Blair’s instant decision to look after him so they can be together.
8. The Last Experiment by Marilyn. Extract: Jim couldn't imagine Blair Sandburg driving off to the corporate wasteland in a rental car. And yet, he would not have believed that the quiet, driven man typing away on his dissertation night after night these past few months was the same free spirit who once refused to abandon the roller coaster for the merry-go-round.
Jim could not pinpoint the moment Blair had decided they were a lost cause. He had, to Jim's mingled relief and shame, initially rationalized his reaction to Alex Barnes as instinctive Sentinel behavior. In fact, Blair's first words following his near-fatal drowning had been to comfort and reassure Jim.
What if Blair left before he gave his dissertation to work for a Fortune 500 company instead, leaving Jim?
9. Breaking the Silence. I’m not sure of the author. Extract: We found twelve bodies these last four months and every week another dead kid turned up in a dumpster in a deserted alley. It has to stop.
What if Jim and Blair meet because Jim is saving him from a kidnapping ring that planned to sell him (‘cause he’s just that damn pretty)?
10. On the Run by Arnie. Extract: Huddling down in the corner of the café booth, Blair wrapped his hands around the coffee cup and relished the warmth he could feel seeping into his frozen fingers. Being on the run in the middle of a Cascade winter was no joke.
What if Blair had been on the run from Alex Barnes, who wanted to bond with him, and found Jim instead?
Arnie’s fics are sometimes unnecessarily overcomplicated, but this one is really quite good. Blair is constantly trying to escape, because he thinks it’ll be better for Jim, but Jim is having none of it. Plus some of her own original characters who appear in most of her fics, that we also end up loving.
(ETA: I was having problems, for no apparent reason, getting my links to work. Should be fine now. Let me know if it isn't.)