Saiyuki AU: "Godsend" (Gojyo)

[rheasilvia]

The AU drabble challenge on 100_roadtrips got me thinking, and this story is the result. It turned out considerably longer than 100 words, but it *is* an AU. :-)

Betaed by me_n_thee. Thank you again!

Godsend
by Sylvia

Comments

[toscas_kiss]

This was wonderful (of course, now I really want to see what happens next!). A clever idea for the AU - Goyjo was very much in character and I liked the way you developed Ataeko's character and their relationship. Usually original female characters come off pretty badly in fanfic, so that's doubly impressive. Kudos!

[rheasilvia]

It seems I can't stay away from AUs - the question of "what if" gets me again and again. And if Hakkai had been a little bit quicker to understand what Kanan was about, and had talked her down and convinced her that everything would be all right - who knows?

This story had me nervous, and still does a bit, so I'm very glad that you liked it. And I admit that I'd also rather like to know what happens next. :-)

I'm especially glad you liked Ataeko - even though she's not the true focus of the story, I *did* want to make her more than a MacGuffin. It's great to hear that her development and relationship with Gojyo rang true to you!

[mistressrenet]

Wonderful. So very sad and believable at first and then sweet and believable as time went on.

When she was sixteen, they moved again, because she'd beaten a man to within an inch of his life, and people were amazingly stupid about such things.
*snickers*

[rheasilvia]

It's great to hear you found the story believable! The plot was originally meant to end just after Goyjo had found the child, but I couldn't stop there - I needed to see how these two would continue on, and what would happen to the larger picture.

And without apropos: Love your icon. *g*

[mistressrenet]

telophase, not me. But I love it too.

Oh, thanks. And her character rings true-- very much showing Gojyo's influence, but showing some sparks of her own identity too.

[iniq]

very random, I know... but damn I love your icons. XD
whenever I see the purple background in a thread I keep watching until Gojyo hops by. ^^;

[cicer]

Oh, my. That's a shockingly amazing idea. I love it. And a good, interesting original female character, which is very rare. I like this a lot.

[rheasilvia]

Thank you! I'm glad - also that you found the idea shocking, which it was rather meant to be. *g*

I admit that I was nervous about Ataeko at one point, but it seems she grew on you just as she did on me, and that's very good. :-)

[rheasilvia]

You're very welcome, and thank *YOU* for the mad applause! :-)

I love Gojyo, and love writing him - he's so fucked up, but such a fundamentally nice guy, and so very sweet with it. (And I love AUs, so this was, in a way, inevitable. *g*) He's also damn smart, in a way that seems to me to be mostly instinct rather than conscious reflection...

Uhm, I'm certain I had a point there somewhere. *g* I think what I was trying to say is that it's great my version of the man worked so well for you, in spite of the AU-ness, and that you liked the story! :-)

[louiselux]

Wow, lovely. I really got into the female character - she was like a female Gojyo and the echoes of Gojyo's own childhood are really effective, as are is vague echo of Gonou and Kanan's incestuous relationship later on.

I like the way this painted a different picture of Gonou and Kanan - in a sense what they had is sort of idealised in the manga, but here there's a much darker side to it and Gonou's anger comes out in a different way in the end, against Kanan. It's painful and has stuck in my mind ever since I read this.

[rheasilvia]

I really got into the female character

You have no idea how happy I am about that. :-)

Yes, that's just what I was thinking... The relationship between Gonou and Kanan is shown as the perfect idyll, a frosted pink backdrop for the horrors to come. It's never seemed quite real to me; I see it as Hakkai's idealized memory. Both Hakkai and Kanan clearly had far darker sides to them, merely waiting for their moment to break through - and even if the ultimate canon tragedy of Kanan's suicide had been avoided, I doubt very much that the outcome would have been idyllic. They'd have tried for it, certainly, with amazing stubbornness. But with those two, the inevitable failure would probably have been spectacularly horrible.

Anyway. *g* I'm very glad my alternate version worked for you!

[miladysboudoir]

Yes!

But with those two, the inevitable failure would probably have been spectacularly horrible.

I agree, and that's why your take on it makes so much sense, I think.

Those two-- they're a puzzle. Gonou was such a cold, bitter child from what we see of him, but Kanan made everything different, better. There's very much a sense of the two of them against the world. Couple that with his proven ability to be very singleminded and I think that equals a suffocating relationship, one which in the end can only implode. Ultimately he wasn't enough to make her want to live. Perhaps she was escaping from him, too?

Oh, this is louiselux btw, but in my alter ego!

[rheasilvia]

Perhaps she was escaping from him, too?

That’s an intriguing thought... and I think that, under the circumstances, you’re entirely right. Gonou and her relationship with him was definitely part of what she felt she would be unable to deal with - part of the situation she was refusing to face.

For one thing, his guilt, pain and rage would certainly have added to her burden. For another, I doubt he could have dealt with what had happened to Kanan and himself in any way but complete denial, and the attempt to live on just as before. Which would eventually lead to quite catastrophic failure.

I do see Gonou - and Hakkai - as someone who always thinks he knows best, and will refuse to entertain even the thought that he may be wrong on any issue he has made up his mind on. Stubborn and willfully blind - and Kanan knew him very well.

Perhaps she knew exactly what she was doing. Perhaps what she was actually doing was saving *Gonou* - what was left of him to save.