Strength by Sophia Jirafe (R)

[andraste]

Fandom: FARSCAPE
Pairing: Crais/Aeryn
Author on LJ: double_helix
Author Website: Into the Heart

Why this must be read:

First, a warning: this is not a nice story, even by the standards of Crais/Aeryn, which doesn't generally run to '... and then they lived happily ever after.' But it is a good story.

I know, because it takes some excellent writing to get me to step away from my personal view of canon to the extent required here - I can't see the Aeryn in my head going this far, even at her lowest ebb.

Yet in another way, it's absolutely perfect. For Crais, Season Three started off bad and just kept getting worse, as everyone and their dog (or Colarta tracker) took a turn at beating him up. Why shouldn't Aeryn have a go, as well? I find this very hard to read precisely because in that sense it does feel like something that could have happened, if we'd been allowed to see it.

In a way, this is like an mirror image of my previous rec Hard/Work, taking the same pieces and turning them around in a different way. One of the wonderful things about fanfiction is the multiple perspectives it allows, and this is a fascinating one even if I don't share it.

Strength

Comments

[sevathediva.livejournal.com]

That was brutal. An uncompromising look at Crais and Aeryn and how they are coping, or not coping, in the vacuum left by Crichton's death.

Very thought provoking.

seva

[andraste]

Very thought provoking.

Yes - one of the reasons I recced it is that it made me think - about the characters, who they are, and how far they'd go - more than almost any other story in the fandom.