SGA fic: A Mantra for These Times ("Last Man" tag)

[xparrot]

So, essays notwithstanding, I ended up ficcing anyways. Yes, I do love the ep that much.

Warnings: Spoilers, obviously. Angst. And it's gen, mostly (a canon pairing and vague suggestions of others, but they're not the point). Also it may have made naye and gnine cry (sorry?)

SGA: A Mantra for These Times {~9,100 words}
PG, missing scenes for 4x20:"The Last Man"
"It doesn't sound so bad." Untold parts of Rodney's story preceding his idea.

Read it on AO3

Comments

[trystings.livejournal.com]

*blown away*

Why do your fics always leave me speechless? This is precisely, exactly how Rodney must have felt. I hurt so much for him right now, I can barely type.

"I'm sorry, John.

"I updated the operating system with the failsafe override that let the gate connect through the solar flare. I didn't find Teyla in time. I completed the Phoenix and I sent Sam the coordinates of the planet Michael was going to attack. I evaluated and submitted the intell that Ronon followed to Michael's lab.

Oh God! To live with all that guilt and sacrifice the rest of his life to come up with the solution to save Sheppard. There is not enough blue jello in the world for Sheppard to give him thanks!

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Okay. So. I'm just going to be over here, possibly sobbing brokenly. Ow. Ow, but yes, that's the episode I watched right there. God. Gorgeous job.

A Mantra for These Times - story

[maxinemayer.livejournal.com]

Wow! What a powerful, moving, insightful and lovingly written, well-written story! My God! I cried in three spots: the paragraph where Rodney thinks of Conan and Xena; the paragraph about Rodney's funeral oration for Sam; and the paragraph where Rodney considers that Jennifer Keller doesn't compare favorably to Teyla, Ronon or Carter, for him.

I love this! Thank you so much for sharing.
Love, max

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

WOW. This was breath taking, you could feel in the quiet desperation as each month faded to another. I loved this because despite that life went on, fighting a loosing war, Rodney clung to the fact that John wasn't dead...in face he was the oldest living person in the universe.

What a stranger, powerful, sadness, to know that each day that ticked by in grief, that John wasn't dead....he just wasn't here. Oh, poor Rodney, I really felt his struggle and depth of loss.

At the end was that hope against hope---

Because Sheppard is not dead, and will not die for forty-eight thousand years—the oldest man in the universe, and if Rodney can save him, if Rodney can bring him back, then none of this will ever happen.

beautiful

[snarkydame.livejournal.com]

God, that was beautiful. You have such a deft touch with the unspoken and the deeply felt -- it makes me jealous, in a very good way.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I usually feel guilty, laying such pain on a character, but in this case it wasn't me...the ep had done it already. ...It's me who had the need to explore it, though. So.

To live with all that guilt and sacrifice the rest of his life to come up with the solution to save Sheppard.

I know! That's what makes it so incredible to me, that Rodney lives with all of this, perseveres for twenty-five years. Man. Oh, Rodney!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you - this is what I saw, watching, so I'm glad it came across. (The angst and the love in this ep, I can't get over it!)

Re: A Mantra for These Times - story

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! His eulogy for Sam was one of my favorite parts, I love the evolution of their relationship from SG-1 to Atlantis, and their final moments together in the ep were so brief but moving...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (Also, I know exactly what you mean - "jealous, in a good way" describes my relationship with about half the authors of this fandom. There is a frightening amount of talent in SGA fic!)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Yeah, to me the greatest angst in "Last Man" was in how Rodney keeps going, with all that loss and pain building and building and he never stops hoping. And the way he says "Sheppard is not dead!" made me think it wasn't the first time he'd said it, that he was holding onto that because he had so little else left...

[loves-bitch.livejournal.com]

Oh god, wow and ow at the same time.

I feel so bad for Rodney right now and I want to just hold onto him and tell him everything will be alright.

This right here is about when I started crying:

The story they tell is epic and heroic and entirely true, Rodney knows, every bit of it, because he knows Ronon. Because he knew Ronon, before any of them.

Still, he's surprised, standing before the pyre, when the tall, black-haired, black-skinned woman who was Ronon's first lieutenant, or squad leader, or whatever, extends the brand to him. "You," she says, as short-spoken as Ronon ever was, a worthy successor. "He wanted it to be you."

Rodney takes the flaming torch, drives splinters into his palms when he tightens his fist around the rough wood. The crackling heat of it against his cheeks is like a sunburn.


LOVE just so much love.

yes

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

that's how it was.

Achingly lovely and brave.

[spike21.livejournal.com]

That's the one. That will be my canon for missing scenes for The Last Man. Just perfect and it made me cry lots.

[dovil.livejournal.com]

You can add me to the 'this is perfect and I blinked my eyes a lot' brigade.

Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

*third time lucky trying to post this!*

[aworldinside.livejournal.com]

*gulps* This was gorgeous. Oh, Rodney. You really put across his loneliness and pain and how everyone just kept leaving him. And then, all he had was that Sheppard wasn't dead.

I was just holding on (Ronan's funeral pyre, and Sam and empty spaces where people should have been) but I lost it when Rodney typed 'I'm sorry, John ... ' in his letter.

Also, I loved how you repeated the 'Sheppard's not dead' mantra near the end of the fic. It was very effective.

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

So much of this rang true for me. I rarely embrace gapfillers/ep tags as personal canon because no matter how much I may enjoy any given fic, there will usually be a disconnect of sorts to contend with wherein the characters, tone, or some other niggling aspect of the piece will clash with what I saw on my screen that week. But here, this meshed perfectly with what I saw in Last Man.

Really, this was exquisitely crafted and emotionally powerful to boot. Well done!

[ratcreature]

*sniffle*

I enjoyed how you fleshed out the episode, and Rodney surviving the others.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

So glad you liked it!

For me, "Last Man" was one big long Rodney-needs-a-hug - and in this case I can't even blame John for not being able to give them, because, hologram and all. Oh, Rodney...!

Re: yes

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I am always honored to know I've managed to sidle into someone's own canon.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! (and I appreciate the posting attempts - I've had to give up on commenting before when my 'net misbehaves, so, yes, very appreciated ^_^)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you, this is a wonderfully kind comment. I'm glad to know the repetition at the end worked for you, I was hoping it would hit the right note of emphasis.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much - I love those tags I mix up with the show, so I'm always honored to know one of my own story's matched someone's personal vision. And with this - yes, this was just what I saw when I watched the episode, all that emotion never stated but *there*...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (Rodney needs a hug, so much...!)

[ratcreature]

I was also really happy that you gave a nod to Carson being in stasis and awakened briefly, I wondered about that in the episode.