All The Seven Seas
Jul. 2nd, 2010 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anteros_lmcTitle: All The Seven Seas
Author: Anteros
Characters: Archie Kennedy / Horatio Hornblower
Rating: R
Notes: This is my attempt to out-do![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mylodon and esmerelda_t in the dark alternative LKU stakes. This is a remix of esmerelda_t's awesome and disturbing To Sail the Seven Seas and it tells Archie's side of the story. (Of course we all know this didn't really happen and that Lord Hornblower and Mr Kennedy lived happily and cantankerously ever after with a spoilt overweight spaniel ;)
Darkness rating: Darker than Horatio's eyebrows with a kohl pencil taken to them, a touch of mascara, and black nail varnish.
I suppose it's fitting that if I'm to swing for anyone it'll be for you. After all, you put my head in the noose all those years ago. Or rather you tied the knot and I presented my neck quite willingly. So yes, it's fitting you should finish the job. There was a day I would have died for you. There was a day I did die for you. But not the day of the trial. Not that day. Archie Kennedy died the day you stepped aboard Retribution, sailed for England and never once looked back. Never once returned a grieving penitent to ask forgiveness at the paupers grave and find it empty. Your king's shilling did the job that Spanish lead and the Admiralty noose couldn't. Did my Horatio die that day too?
I told myself you weren't to know. How could you have known that the Kingston court was in the habit of turning convicted criminals over to a certain young surgeon keen to try his skill? It's hardly the kind of thing one advertises in the Gazette. Had the Admiralty known how skillful the young gentleman would prove to be, perhaps they would not have been so fast to dispose of me. Of course the good doctor lost interest once I recovered sufficiently, and ceased to be a medical curiosity. Still, he was good enough not to report his remarkable success and my miraculous recover to the Admiralty.
Even then it took nigh on two months lying wracked with fever in a backstreet Kingston hovel. Two months hallucinating bright futures, spinning dreams of other lives, together, once I recovered and you had left the service. But when the fever finally broke I learned that Retribution had long since sailed for England with Commander Hornblower at the helm.
It should have been Bush of course. It should have been his ship. And yet there he is still at your side looking for all the world like a beaten dog. You made fools of us both, Horatio. I could have killed him today you know. Your faithful hound. Oh he fought bravely enough, doggedly, determinedly. But some remembrance stayed my hand. My god, it's long since I gave second thought to killing a man. You too I expect.
At first I was still sure you'd come. Even though you believed me dead. Surely you wouldn't leave my grave unmarked? But months passed into years, and you never came and I couldn't go. How would it look for a revenant mutineer to suddenly appear before captain and commodore? So I wrote to you. I wrote you letter after letter after letter, drowned them all in rum and fed them to the fire.
For a time I tried to convince myself I was lucky just to be alive, lucky to be free, lucky you were free, your reputation unblemished by the taint of mutiny and murder. Because that's what it was. Wasn't it Horatio?
For a man with no name, no interest, no standing or connections my life has not been so bad. Sheer brass neck and charm can go a long way. And I can be ....persuasive. Merchant, trader, privateer, pirate, call it what you will. It means nothing to me. I did it simply for the occupation. The thrill of the chase kept me occupied. Kept me from the anger and the bitterness. But those fires have long since burned out.
I knew it was you of course, knew it was your ship. I've watched you for years, as I watch these waters. Keeping just out of sight, below your horizon. Not a vessel moves here but I know something of her business and her course. Why then didn’t I trim the sails and show you a clean pair of heels? Why choose today to turn and fight? I suppose a man can tire of running, even when he is the one giving chase.
It took you the space of a breath to recognise me, looking down from your quarterdeck. It seems a lifetime ago since I stood there beside you. You've aged of course, as I have. You're a little thicker round the middle, and your hair is streaked with grey. But it's your eyes, it's your eyes I recognise. Dull and flat and dead. I recognise them because they are the same eyes that stare back at me from the glass every day. I made no attempt to hide me face. Why should I? I have nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing to seek forgiveness for. You looked like you'd seen a ghost, the colour drained from your face and for a moment I caught a glimpse of the boy who was seasick at Spithead. And then you ordered the prisoner to the brig.
But I knew curiosity and vanity would get the better of you. I had only to wait. I knew you would come and I knew you'd be armed, knew you wouldn't trust me. Trust, do you even know the meaning of the word? I trusted you Horatio. But then I was ever the fool. Still, even a fool would know how to relieve you of your weapon. You always did throw caution to the wind for a kiss.
Oh but when our lips met, for a moment I was lost. And this was not the brig but our room, and this was not your ship but our inn, and you were not the captain and I was not your prize, and this was not our last kiss but our first.
You tasted of rum.
And now you're up there in your great cabin. Awake, pacing the floor. Consumed by doubt and mired in guilt. Was it worth it Horatio? Was that swab worth all the recrimination, all the loathing, all the guilt? And you can't stop thinking; you can't tear your thoughts away from me. And here I am, your prisoner. But then I suppose I always was. You captured me that day you clambered aboard Justinian in the rain. And maybe, just maybe, somewhere buried deep, there is still a spark in you, as there is in me. A spark that all the seven seas could not quench.
Author: Anteros
Characters: Archie Kennedy / Horatio Hornblower
Rating: R
Notes: This is my attempt to out-do
mylodon and esmerelda_t in the dark alternative LKU stakes. This is a remix of esmerelda_t's awesome and disturbing To Sail the Seven Seas and it tells Archie's side of the story. (Of course we all know this didn't really happen and that Lord Hornblower and Mr Kennedy lived happily and cantankerously ever after with a spoilt overweight spaniel ;)Darkness rating: Darker than Horatio's eyebrows with a kohl pencil taken to them, a touch of mascara, and black nail varnish.
I suppose it's fitting that if I'm to swing for anyone it'll be for you. After all, you put my head in the noose all those years ago. Or rather you tied the knot and I presented my neck quite willingly. So yes, it's fitting you should finish the job. There was a day I would have died for you. There was a day I did die for you. But not the day of the trial. Not that day. Archie Kennedy died the day you stepped aboard Retribution, sailed for England and never once looked back. Never once returned a grieving penitent to ask forgiveness at the paupers grave and find it empty. Your king's shilling did the job that Spanish lead and the Admiralty noose couldn't. Did my Horatio die that day too?
I told myself you weren't to know. How could you have known that the Kingston court was in the habit of turning convicted criminals over to a certain young surgeon keen to try his skill? It's hardly the kind of thing one advertises in the Gazette. Had the Admiralty known how skillful the young gentleman would prove to be, perhaps they would not have been so fast to dispose of me. Of course the good doctor lost interest once I recovered sufficiently, and ceased to be a medical curiosity. Still, he was good enough not to report his remarkable success and my miraculous recover to the Admiralty.
Even then it took nigh on two months lying wracked with fever in a backstreet Kingston hovel. Two months hallucinating bright futures, spinning dreams of other lives, together, once I recovered and you had left the service. But when the fever finally broke I learned that Retribution had long since sailed for England with Commander Hornblower at the helm.
It should have been Bush of course. It should have been his ship. And yet there he is still at your side looking for all the world like a beaten dog. You made fools of us both, Horatio. I could have killed him today you know. Your faithful hound. Oh he fought bravely enough, doggedly, determinedly. But some remembrance stayed my hand. My god, it's long since I gave second thought to killing a man. You too I expect.
At first I was still sure you'd come. Even though you believed me dead. Surely you wouldn't leave my grave unmarked? But months passed into years, and you never came and I couldn't go. How would it look for a revenant mutineer to suddenly appear before captain and commodore? So I wrote to you. I wrote you letter after letter after letter, drowned them all in rum and fed them to the fire.
For a time I tried to convince myself I was lucky just to be alive, lucky to be free, lucky you were free, your reputation unblemished by the taint of mutiny and murder. Because that's what it was. Wasn't it Horatio?
For a man with no name, no interest, no standing or connections my life has not been so bad. Sheer brass neck and charm can go a long way. And I can be ....persuasive. Merchant, trader, privateer, pirate, call it what you will. It means nothing to me. I did it simply for the occupation. The thrill of the chase kept me occupied. Kept me from the anger and the bitterness. But those fires have long since burned out.
I knew it was you of course, knew it was your ship. I've watched you for years, as I watch these waters. Keeping just out of sight, below your horizon. Not a vessel moves here but I know something of her business and her course. Why then didn’t I trim the sails and show you a clean pair of heels? Why choose today to turn and fight? I suppose a man can tire of running, even when he is the one giving chase.
It took you the space of a breath to recognise me, looking down from your quarterdeck. It seems a lifetime ago since I stood there beside you. You've aged of course, as I have. You're a little thicker round the middle, and your hair is streaked with grey. But it's your eyes, it's your eyes I recognise. Dull and flat and dead. I recognise them because they are the same eyes that stare back at me from the glass every day. I made no attempt to hide me face. Why should I? I have nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing to seek forgiveness for. You looked like you'd seen a ghost, the colour drained from your face and for a moment I caught a glimpse of the boy who was seasick at Spithead. And then you ordered the prisoner to the brig.
But I knew curiosity and vanity would get the better of you. I had only to wait. I knew you would come and I knew you'd be armed, knew you wouldn't trust me. Trust, do you even know the meaning of the word? I trusted you Horatio. But then I was ever the fool. Still, even a fool would know how to relieve you of your weapon. You always did throw caution to the wind for a kiss.
Oh but when our lips met, for a moment I was lost. And this was not the brig but our room, and this was not your ship but our inn, and you were not the captain and I was not your prize, and this was not our last kiss but our first.
You tasted of rum.
And now you're up there in your great cabin. Awake, pacing the floor. Consumed by doubt and mired in guilt. Was it worth it Horatio? Was that swab worth all the recrimination, all the loathing, all the guilt? And you can't stop thinking; you can't tear your thoughts away from me. And here I am, your prisoner. But then I suppose I always was. You captured me that day you clambered aboard Justinian in the rain. And maybe, just maybe, somewhere buried deep, there is still a spark in you, as there is in me. A spark that all the seven seas could not quench.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 01:23 am (UTC)There's something tragic too about Horatio not seeking Archie out in Kingston when it could have made a difference, but not being able to stay away now when it does neither of them any good. Like how in Romeo & Juliet, Juliet wakes up just as Romeo has drunk the poison.
I love how in the paragraph about the kiss, it stops being 'you' and 'I', and instead its full of 'our'.
On a sillier note, it tickles me that its Horatio, the one who is ostensibly *not* a pirate, is the one drinking rum.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 09:25 am (UTC)I bawled when I wrote it :}
he still has hope even though he's trying to show that he doesn't
He does still have that tiny spark of hope, despite all his protestations that he doesn't care anymore.
I love how in the paragraph about the kiss, it stops being 'you' and 'I', and instead its full of 'our'.
That was the bit that made me cry :( Poor Archie, he never gives up.
its Horatio, the one who is ostensibly *not* a pirate, is the one drinking rum.
Horatio is just jealous that Archie got to be a real pirate captain. See The Wrong Trousers for further proof ;)
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Date: 2010-07-02 09:22 am (UTC)Oh but when such stories as these appear, for a moment the films are not long gone. And this is not the end of the fandom but the beginning again.
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Date: 2010-07-02 09:38 am (UTC)*blush* :)
This has been hiding in my drafts folder for months now. I wrote it way back in April when you rec'd the remix fics.
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Date: 2010-07-02 10:56 am (UTC)Perhaps we need to organise that remix sometime soon - or at least get it off the ground with a proijected Autumn posting date?
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Date: 2010-07-02 07:50 pm (UTC)Yup, this is the one.
Definitely need to do that remix challenge, and autumn would be good. How did it work last time round? If you enter is anything you've written up for grabs, do you put forward specific pieces, or do people get to request which piece they want to remix?
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Date: 2010-07-03 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 12:37 pm (UTC)verbose like meso confident writing longer fic. I'd love to give this a go!no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 09:28 am (UTC)Thanks for sharing.
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Date: 2010-07-02 09:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 10:31 am (UTC)But this is so very beautifully written; I so wish it weren’t AU! :o)
Archie Kennedy died the day you stepped aboard Retribution, sailed for England and never once looked back. Never once returned a grieving penitent to ask forgiveness at the paupers grave and find it empty. Your king's shilling did the job that Spanish lead and the Admiralty noose couldn't. Did my Horatio die that day too?
*sniff*
That could also be written from the perspective of a dead Archie (like Lovely Bones) and still be very true and fitting, so it’s okay for me. ;)
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Date: 2010-07-02 07:55 pm (UTC)I know :} I actually wrote this at the same time as pirate!Archie crack fic but was too chicken to post it!
But this is so very beautifully written; I so wish it weren’t AU!
Thanks, but are you sure?!
Glad you liked this. It's certainly a bit different from my usual output! Don't think I'll be posting many more like this though, I got awfully sad writing it :}
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Date: 2010-07-02 08:30 pm (UTC)About what?? Oh - I don't mean Archie getting his heart broken and turning test animal and pirate! I mean, I wish you'd written a fic as beautiful as this only... non-AU. :p
Don't think I'll be posting many more like this though, I got awfully sad writing it :}
Good. Because I really don't like AU. Already after the first paragraph I was thinking, "Damn, why does she waste those beautiful phrases and images on something I can't take seriously?!" Sorry. I've always been kind of allergic to AU fics.
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Date: 2010-07-02 08:38 pm (UTC)Ah right! Don't worry, there's plenty more non-AU fics lined up! Now all I need is time to write them....
"Damn, why does she waste those beautiful phrases and images on something I can't take seriously?!"
LOL! Sorry sweetie! Promise I won't do it again ;)
I've always been kind of allergic to AU fics.
Allergic?! Eew! Shall I send Sir Edward over with some Mr Cookworthy's ointment for you?!
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Date: 2010-07-03 06:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 03:22 pm (UTC)now write me another version where Horatio is captured by Archie, please please please. You and esmerelda_t could coauthor and I would be the happiest fangirl in the universe.no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 08:03 pm (UTC)I find dark!Archie very compelling and this is a perfect painting of how he got there.
I think this is really just the same Archie we know and love, just sadder and lonelier. But he still has that inextinguishable spark of hope, and that's what makes him Archie.
Re special request.... hmmmm.....let me speak to Ms T and I'll get back to you.... In the meantime did you ever read Wait? It might do the job ;)
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Date: 2010-07-02 11:06 pm (UTC)In a way that makes it worse, as he's bitter and twisted and broken, but still him, and if he wasn't then he, and Horatio, would be much better placed to let go. The hope makes it all the more tragic.
let me speak to Ms T and I'll get back to you
May I bribe you with cookies and sparkly things?
*goes to read Wait* I think I missed this one somehow, too much madness going on.
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Date: 2010-07-02 11:46 pm (UTC)I know :( But as long as that spark is still there, it's still Archie, and somehow he'll pull through.
May I bribe you with cookies and sparkly things
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Date: 2010-07-03 06:59 pm (UTC)In that case I will go ahead and dream up something to stop him from being hanged, like an attack on the ship or something, and he saves Horatio's life as a reflex action... or something... and then they sail off into the sunset to live a loved up slashy life together.
Yes, I know that's not the point of dark!Archie. Clutch at straws, me?
esmerelda_t is easily bribed with maltesers. I on the other hand require wine or smart comments ;)
Arg! I have no brain for smart comments. Wine it is then, and maltesers... maltesers dipped in wine?
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Date: 2010-07-03 07:42 pm (UTC)Oooh I like that idea verymuch! Gonnae write it? Or shall we? ;)
maltesers dipped in wine?
Now you're talking!
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Date: 2010-07-03 07:45 pm (UTC)Apologies to Nodbear if this gets in the way of her fic, that one's being a bit stubborn at the moment.
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Date: 2010-07-03 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-07-03 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 10:53 pm (UTC)Actually haven't cried yet -but can feel it lurking in there - and now hand are getting too tired for proper response with comments -will do that tomorrow if that is ok.
but it is lovely - whicih is whta persaudes me to read it again against my inbuilt resistance to LKUs in a wat - you and Esmerelda are great advocates for them- well so also the great Mylodon!
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Date: 2010-07-02 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 07:19 pm (UTC)That book I was mentioning during the week has a lot of, quite horrific, background information on medical experimention in the days pre ethical approval.
My god, it's long since I gave second thought to killing a man. You too I expect.
*nods* see I think part of the romance of H/A *is* that Archie *understood* the ambition, and dare I say ruthlessness, in Horatio.
Surely you wouldn't leave my grave unmarked?
You know it's always bothered me, what happened to Archie's body,
even though logically I understand nothing did, someone yelled cut and Jamie got upI still love this fic to little bits.
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Date: 2010-07-03 07:52 pm (UTC)Ooh that's interesting! I was concerned when I wrote this that I couldn't really back this idea up with any historical evidence.
Archie *understood* the ambition, and dare I say ruthlessness, in Horatio.
Of course he understood. Archie can see right through Horatio's implacable facade to all the doubt and fear and ambition carefully hidden underneath.
You know it's always bothered me, what happened to Archie's body
Have you read Keeping His Word? This is one explanation of what happened to Archie's body. It's a rather daft fic but I adored it when I read it and it made me cry like a baby. Perhaps I'm just peculiarly susceptible to the combination of fandom and archaeology ;)
I still love this fic to little bits.
Awww thanks. It's still your fic sweetie :)
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Date: 2010-07-03 08:14 pm (UTC)According to the book, and it makes sense when you think about it, white doctors routinely did experiments on African American slaves, I imagine similar things went on in the Caribbean.
I have not read that! What a treat to find new vintage fic!
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Date: 2010-07-03 09:18 pm (UTC)I'm sure it probably did. I had a vague recollection of reading about the corpses of condemned criminals being used for dissection, Burke and Hare I suppose. I think that was what was at the back of my mind when I wrote this.
What a treat to find new vintage fic!
I must read it again. I started crying a third of the way through and was a sniffling wreck by the end. I don't think it's actually even that sad! Maybe I was premenstrual ;)
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Date: 2011-10-06 02:50 pm (UTC)Awesome fic, all worthwhile stuffying away in the thin folder with the best things', and is definitely up for not once re-reading. A source of distressed inspiration it is, and a good glas of whine to it, optimally ;)
They re so gruesomely real here, let alone in kind of a different life-perspective, - as if.. And still i can easily see them, and their unextinguished care for each other, which would go unexpressed since.. ruins of hearts, but still hearts of theirs. Broken lives.
Read esmeralda's one before of course.. just the same astonishing work! Both made up a total dark cruel harmony. Thanks so much!
"Still, even a fool would know how to relieve you of your weapon. You always did throw caution to the wind for a kiss."
Dunno how to format a quote, sorry..
This was just.. arrghhh.. sooo.. rough and.. sexy. Love it.
Did you ever write the fic you discussed above, about Hornblower being saved by Archie?!
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Date: 2011-10-06 09:35 pm (UTC)"Enjoy" is obviously the wrong word but I'm glad you thought this worked. All credit to
I never wrote a continuation of this but
Thank you so much for reading and taking the time to comment, I'm very fond of this fic so I really appreciate your comments.
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Date: 2011-10-07 09:03 am (UTC)*shhhhshhh* they will meet again, as dear lovers, on the Other Side, where all the misaunderstandings erased, pain lifted, the confusion of their lives cleared, love unstained desceneded upon them..
:D
Thanks! will check it out.
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Date: 2011-10-07 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 02:01 pm (UTC)Cant' get it.. cant' wrap my head such a nonsence happened.. lol
/Ex-steadfast Horatio's fan.
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Date: 2011-11-01 08:48 pm (UTC)Look on the bright side though, if you slash them, you can be steadfast and loyal to both Horatio and Archie!
You know you want to..... ;)
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Date: 2011-11-03 03:59 pm (UTC)Haha, you bet i slash them) So now, Horatio's as perfect god as he is (right, until Duty - inhuman cold and married bore =O) carefully nudged to give space to one more god.(Marya lies somewhere down on the pavement by now..ooops) This way i like it, two hot deities together. I can feel complete! :D
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Date: 2011-11-04 10:00 pm (UTC)That's all right, I forgive you :D It is my mission in life to convince one and all that Archie is not a whimp, but is in fact the bravest man ever to don a blue jacket. And the fact that he and Horatio are damn hot together doesn't hurt a bit... ;)
Btw this is my explanation of why Archie is so strung out On the Bridge in The Wrong War.
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Date: 2011-11-09 02:13 pm (UTC)Aww.. much thankful! You write awesome so will make a pause in Blackbird (by Cortese) which is a giant-fic and read this one. Will see what got into him back then!
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Date: 2011-11-11 10:45 pm (UTC)You've perfectly encapsulated Archie's character and what makes him so fascinating. And you've put it very poetically, if I may say so :) Archie is so very human, in a way few "heros" are. You can see the effect of each and every experience he endures in the way is character develops. His actions and reactions are very raw and believable in the context of his life. Painfully so.
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Date: 2016-05-23 09:14 am (UTC)But I do think the premise of Archie being angry at Horatio for living and going on with his career is unfair, especially since that is what he gave up his life for - so that Horatio could go on with his. Maybe all the years in the shadows have sent him back to that resenting-Horatio's-success frame of mind that he was in during El Ferrol... But now we need Horatio to be stubborn and force Archie into anther reconciliation! It can't end this way! Noooooo!