Fandom: Horatio Hornblower
Pairing: Horatio/Archie
Author on LJ: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mzcalypsoWhy this must be read:Because Archie doesn't die! Seriously, though, Calypso creates a believable alternative ending to "Retribution" (with another guest appearance by Stephen Maturin) that has the man once known as Archie Kennedy alive when all is said and done. That result is not without sacrifice, however, and Horatio and Archie have a whole new set of obstacles set up before them. It's a dangerous business being a officer of the British Royal Navy and being seen with an admitted mutineer who, by the way, is supposed to be dead, and happens to be your (male) lover.
Although the tale deviates from the canon, Calypso's Horatio and Archie are still the men we knew from the A&E series - and their journey from the jail cell in Kingston to the last line of this series follows a path of highs and lows where each decision can lead to having to say goodbye forever, or finding a way to make it work. The reunions are bittersweet, their good-byes make my heart ache and the resolution of this series never fails to make my toes curl.
A snippet of what I mean:
What was wrong with him? Had it been those weeks at sea, pretending to William Bush and everyone else aboard that he was in deepest mourning? He had lived the role. He had lost Archie, lost him from his ship and his life and his arms. It had almost been easier to consider him dead, and utterly out of reach. That was a possibility they had always lived with. And sick as Archie had been, so fearfully wounded, the hope for this reunion was always very small. Castle Out of CheckSail AwayReprieve 
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