Challenge 13 “Unshackled” by Kristen999 and Xenachan

[kristen999]

Title: “Unshackled” (Challenge 13)
Author:Kristen999
Artist: Xenachan
Word Count:5010
Rating: T/Gen
Spoilers: None
Warnings: This does have dark suggestive tones that some might find disturbing.
Summary: John struggles to find the answers. Rodney only wants to forget.

Notes: Written for: Artword Challenge 013: Dual

Major thanks to Wildcat88 for an amazing and swift

Comments

[coolbreeze1]

That was great - very intense. Dark, but I like it. I thought you handled broken John well, too. Not too over the top, but enough for the reader to feel the depth of the trauma. Not knowing or understanding exactly what was done to him for most of the story really kept the intensity up too.

I liked how you wrote Rodney - falling apart but so strong at the end. That last line is just killer too. Well done, and the artwork to go along with the story is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!

[kristen999]

Thank you. Writing broken John was tough, it took me three times as long to write this than normal only because of the style. Trying withhold so much, only leaving tiny subtle clues drove me crazy! I couldn't reveal anything and it was a giant handicap in a way. But it began to flow and I'm happy with the result..even if I did hurt both guys very much.

[wildcat88]

You already know how much I love this story. Dark and visceral and reflective of how far they would go for each other. I particularly loved the way Rodney's memories were interspersed with his conversation with Dr. Graham. Terrific.

[kristen999]

Thank you..Rodney's segment had to be the one that told the last half of the story, but he wasn't about to make it easy.

[kristen999]

Thank you very much. I buried a lot of things in this so, I hope more and more becamre more obvious on the re-read.

[trystings]

Oh god, I hate it when they're broken beyond repair, hate it. Awesome story though, I'm chilled to the bone.

xenachan, BEAUTIFUL art piece! The facial expressions you have chosen are perfect.

[kristen999]

I hope they are not broken beyond repair...but its bad, very bad..but I think they'll find their way back together.

[haliyah]

Ooooh, this was good. Oh my, yes.

But...what, precisely, did Rodney do?

[horridporrid]

My impression is that he killed Dr. Mengele before he could press the button.

[haliyah]

Hmmm. Plausible, but would that have really broken Rodney that much? He's killed before.

[kristen999]

There's a huge difference between Rodney running for his life, shooting at many faceless enemies (most of them non-human) and making a conscious choice to shoot someone point blank in the head in the heat of the moment. I wrote about the blood splatter on his face and in his hair as a result of such a up-close kill shot. I think that would be traumatizing for anyone.

The stress of not being able to find Sheppard, added with discovering what was done to John (feeling guilty at not finding him in time) kind of snowballed into a moment when he killed Mengele with his own two hands or gun as the case may be. I think all three factors might have caused a small meltdown in my eye.