Reintegration Moon, by grey_sw (NC-17)

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Fandom: TRON
Pairing: Clu/Kevin, refs to Clu/Kevin/Tron
Length: 3 chapters, ~16K words total
Author on LJ: grey_sw
Author Website:
Warnings: Spoilers for Legacy
Why this must be read:

(To celebrate the fact that last night I got two autographs from Jeff Bridges, have some ontological JB² porn. You’re welcome.)

There is a moment in Legacy when Sam comments that the Grid “must have been something before Clu screwed it up,” and Kevin replies, “He’s me. I screwed it up.” This story explores the implications of that statement as User and Program attempt a reconciliation. It is not an easy or comfortable conversation, but it is enlightening.

YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I DID FOR SUMMER VACATION? his own voice boomed, louder than loud. VERY WELL. YOU WILL SEE.

Flynn saw. He saw the Grid as Clu saw it: a thousand cycles of planning and perseverance, a million lines of perfection seared across the landscape. He saw strength, youth, joy, vitality -- all the things Flynn had left behind to become enlightened, all immensely pleasurable and good. He saw himself defeating his enemies, throwing them down, but he never destroyed them. He showed them his vision instead, in all its beauty and glory. He purified them, healing them, fixing their imperfections until they became eager and strong and beautiful, like him. He stood before them as their leader, their master, and they shouted and screamed for him until he felt his heart could fill no further. It burned like fire, his heart; it burned until he shouted, too, of destiny and victory, of efficiency and fidelity. He would never leave his people, his army, his children. Never, because he had been left, and it hurt, it hurt--

Out there is a new world! Out there is our victory! Out there... is our destiny!

Flynn wept. He'd done the same thing at Encom: reorgs, layoffs, even takeovers, all according to his personal plan. He'd ignored or gotten rid of everyone who couldn't or wouldn't keep up with him, even family and old friends. Even Alan and Lora, if he was entirely honest with himself. He'd cut them both out of the loop, kept the Grid to himself even as it began to occupy most of his free time. And why not? His frontier was in there, inside the computer. His future was in there. His destiny.

The things he'd grown to despise in Clu, in himself, were the very same things that had driven him to build the Grid in the first place. Yet the Grid was good; he still believed that. He saw himself there, saw Clu there. He was fighting in the Games, racing his cycle so fast that the crowd of spectators blurred into one long, screaming smear of color. He smashed his opponents into dust, all of them, all by himself, and he laughed as they fell, laughed as his own name lit up beside the words HIGH SCORE. He saw himself sparring with Rinzler in an empty arena, spinning and striking, hurling his disc until his arms ached, until he threw back his head and roared with joy.

He saw the rectifier, too. The key to everything. It made his people more perfect, more like him. It gathered them up and spit them back out in his image, better and stronger. It was the end of imperfection, the end of strays and glitches and gridbugs. It ate everything and anything, whatever he gave it, and the more he fed it, the faster it grew. Flynn hadn't thought that Clu's "private initiative" was even possible, but there it was -- all of the programs together, working on one single problem. It was enough to break the barriers of science and technology, medicine and philosophy. It was enough to transform the whole world, the real world, just as Flynn had once dreamed.

And it was beautiful, seen through Clu's eyes. It was.

What I find especially impressive is the way grey_sw reveals that Clu shares his maker’s best features and worst flaws — and how in places the line between the two categories is not just blurred, but nonexistent. In so doing, she treats the characters fairly: neither is demonized, yet both are forced to acknowledge and accept their culpability for the tragedies they engendered. What’s more, she offers some very interesting theories on what makes Clu different from his fellow Basics and the ISOs.

Finally, this story is fantastic smut. The emotions are deep and raw; the power dynamic is fascinatingly tangled; and the action is scorching hot. All in all, a masterpiece of characterization through sex.

“Reintegration Moon” on Livejournal and at AO3.

Comments

[grey-sw.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you! ♥ Such kind words... I am seriously blushing (and grinning!) right now.

Hope everyone enjoys the story -- this one was a real labor of love. :)

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I think this story could become one of the classics of the fandom. It's really amazing.

[grey-sw.livejournal.com]

I think this story could become one of the classics of the fandom. It's really amazing.

Blush blush blush etc! I really appreciate this, thank you so very much!

Also, I realize this fic is quite long, so I just posted a Kindle/e-reader version (http://www.mediafire.com/?n84hnhtqmh498vd) (along with instructions) at the original thread (http://tron-slash.livejournal.com/46655.html) -- hopefully that'll help mitigate the tl;dr effect. :)

Thanks again!

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Okay, that short segment just ripped my heart out. *Sniffles* Goddammit, Clu... :(

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

I usually have a hard time sympathizing with Clu, what with the genocide and the mass brainwashing, but this fic pulled it off because, as I said above, it doesn't soft-pedal what he did at all, and does make him realize the full repercussions of his actions.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Love your icon. :)

And yeah...this.