#post canon fanfiction

[wisteriawater]

Technically this is chapter 28 because I do chapters with multiple parts sometimes. I am up to 69k+ words now, goodness. I don't post every upload anymore because then I would clog the tags ^^" Chapter 28 is titled "To think you would outlive me..." In which Thistle fears he is passing away due to a phenomena that no one really understands yet. Post-canon Thistle rehab fic {With many twists}. Description: What makes someone human? Where is the line between monsters and people, and just how thin is it? These questions come to most peoples' minds at some point in their lives, but most people have the luxury of letting them fall to the wayside, completely content to ignore it. The question is just too complicated; nay, even too painful to ponder. However... sometimes the need to answer that question cannot be ignored. When Laios needs to start thinking about leaving behind an heir, he struggles with the very concept of finding someone to do so with. At the time, the question of ‘What makes someone human’ was as far from his mind as could be- and so were the last dregs of the winged lion. Unfortunately, that which is blithely forgotten has a way of rearing its ugly head. Meanwhile, he has been struggling to protect Thistle from the consequences of his past for a year now- but it has not been easy, or even fruitful. What do you do with an ex dungeon lord that fights for numbness? Why is it that Thistle is able to fight for anything after having his desires consumed? {This is a Thistle rehab and Labru heir fic.}

[winderlylandchime]

Hi! I'm nearing the end of my qaf re-watch (this time i might actually finish the show in it's entirety, i always stop somewhere during season 5 and haven't seen the finale in over a decade). I'm trying to prepare for the inevitable disappointment of the ending, so i was wondering if you had any fix-it fics you could recommend? Preferably longer ones but any length will be fine 🩷

Hello dear sweet anon! The finale (especially that last shot) is so heart-breaking. I always try to hold in mind that CowLip always meant the ending to be hopeful, that they intended Justin and Brian to remain together, that they had research the plane flight between Pittsburgh and NYC.... still. 513 stings doesn't it? And it's so bittersweet because the "only time" speech is everything, it is, dare I say, ridiculously romantic.

That said, nothing like a fix-it fic! (Some of these are shorter than you're looking for but they're so good I couldn't not include them) (under the cut so my mutuals don't hate me)

I wouldn't marry me either by orphan account, ~8k words, Everyone, including Brian and Justin themselves, assume it will be the sex.

The Love Song of Brian A. Kinney by ipoiledi, ~12k words, It all started because the phone sex was just making things worse.

Queer As Folk Season 6 by qaffangyrl, ~96k words, Timeline: Six Months after 513 (note the tag for minor character death)

All Kinds of Time (series) by @xoxoemynn , ~69k words, Justin may be thriving in New York, but Brian's life is spiraling out of control. When he stands in danger of losing it all -- Justin, his career, and his friends -- will his personal guardian angels, Vic and Judy, be able to reach him in time? Or will time, and his old hang ups, get the best of him?

Only Time (series) by Xie, ~250k words, After moving to New York, Justin makes a plan. Brian hasn't got a chance.

devil_on_your_shoulder27384 has a number of post-canon PWP fics

...and my own fic

beautiful like the darkness between the fireflies by @winderlylandchime , ~20k words, “Please, have a seat.” Brian gestures to the chairs surrounding the large, oval table. He watches Justin give him a tight-lipped grin as he shrugs his arms out of his coat and lays it on a chair and slides into the one next to it. Jerking himself back to attention, Brian walks around to the head of the table, wakes the projector up, and begins his presentation. This is where he shines and he’s pleased, relieved, that his first contact with Justin after all these years is on his turf. That it’s in a setting where he can be masterful, where he can be in control.

[chucktaylorupset]

I think there's something to be said for fanfiction that loves canon in a way that’s rude. Like thank you for this wonderful thematic tragedy made out of this character’s entire arc ending in death, it was emotionally and intellectually moving, but also fuck you fuck you fuck you they live, this time and every time they live, they never died, their flaws are not their undoing, actually they have no flaws, actually they save everyone, actually who cares about a story, any story, where this one dies, actually i cared about that story so much i made a new one, actually i cared so much i unmade the old one, you gave me morals and i left them for the mortal, but they’re mine now and i will never let them die, actually thank you, actually fuck you, strongly worded letter to follow

A kiss for canon and spit in its face all at once, it’s great

[daphnalia]

and they were galpals

[dapper-lil-arts]

Me with every fuckin fanfic i write lmao

[carolinanadeau]

"this female character is underdeveloped" TO YOU. I can read subtext and I know all about her backstory and her rich inner life. also she told me personally

[syl-stormblessed]

actually the wildest thing to come out of the sunshine court is the fact that jean moreau and jeremy knox have now legitimately interacted within canon. many times even.

[justaz]

arthur (prince of camelot) still has to study under a tutor bc yknow uther wants him to be very intelligent before becoming king or something bc its super important idk idc anyways merlin is doing chores in his chambers while arthur is squinting at a book and merlin eventually caves and asks him what he’s reading and arthur gruffly explains that its a collection of stories from greece that make absolutely no sense so merlin asks him to read them outloud to him. arthur of course teases him and calls him an idiot and asks how he could possibly help but does as he’s asked and reads the stories to merlin as he does his chores. merlin (being crushed under the weight of destiny and tormented by the prophecies that kilgharrah spews) understands the stories almost immediately and gets all excited and starts rambling about them with arthur. arthur is glad to have someone who understands so he can give something that reflects a hint of understanding to his tutor who accepts it and moves onto the next unit of education.

the thing is, arthur finds more stories in camelot’s library and brings them up to his room to read them aloud to merlin under the guise of completing his studies but really he just wants to watch as merlin’s eyes gleam when he understands whats happening and listen to him ramble on and on about them bc he’s gay. the stories stick with merlin though and he realizes that they’re cautionary tales, that the heroes who were told too much of their future doomed themself to fulfill them - that them fighting the prophecies led to their completion. merlin takes it to heart and gives a big ��fuck you” to kilgharrah before forging his own fate and helping morgana with her magic and handing out an olive branch to mordred and now everyone can live happily and peacefully in an albion teeming with magic.

[geraskierfanficprompts]

Prompt 93

Geralt yelled at him, that's fine. Jaskier was just trying to cheer him up, but it's still fine. They're on top of a fucking mountain, but it's fine. Jaskier never even wanted to come to this mountain, but it's fine. Geralt never liked him, but it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Geralt said that to never see him again would be a blessing. It's fine.

Jaskier goes to get his stuff from Roach, only for her to start freaking out as he approaches. Jaskier futilely tries to calm her down for far too long, before she neighs, looking behind him. He spins around and sees a stomping, still-pissed Geralt.

"Oh, Geralt! Thank gods, something is wrong with Roach, I'm worried about h-"

But Geralt walks straight through him, and pats Roach's muzzle.

"What is it, Girl?"

Jaskier blinks in shock, turning to look at them. He watches as Geralt goes through their bags and seems to relax at the sight of them, stuffed full of all of Jaskier's bullshit. Perhaps he wants to sell all remainders of Jaskier, thinking Jaskier too dumb to bring his things with him, wherever he went. Maybe it wasn't relief at all, maybe it was defeat, as he stares at new duties, as he has to go chase after the stupid bard he despises to bring him back his things because no matter what, Geralt has a heart of gold.

Geralt makes camp, right there and then, and sits down to meditate.

Jaskier decides that if Geralt can't see him, he might as well get his fill of Geralt. He sits right in front of him, and stares at his face, semi-relaxed in a semi-peaceful meditation. He's still tense, as if waiting for something, or expecting the worse. Maybe he's worried Jaskier will come back.

"It's alright, Darling. I won't be there to bother you any more, it seems."

Jaskier makes sure to tell him, even though Geralt doesn't react. Roach has calmed since Geralt arrived, but still eyes him wearily. At least Roach can see him, he supposes.

Jaskier observes as Geralt stays at that same camp for another three days. Geralt either meditates, cares for roach, or wanders off into the wilderness at seemingly random times. He either stays away for two minutes, or nine hours at a time. Jaskier stays with Roach, worried about her without either of them. He knows she can handle herself, but he still worried. Same with Geralt. But it was nice being seen, sometimes. So he stays with Roach.

Geralt comes back, hurriedly packs up camp, leaps onto Roach, and rides like a bat out of hell. Jaskier unfortunately cannot fly or float or even hover. So he has to run after them. And even though Geralt can't see or touch him, Jaskier can still feel his lungs burn when he runs for too long.

Jaskier eventually catches up with them at a town at the bottom of the mountain. Geralt is searching for something, it's obvious. Perhaps a job? Yennefer, somehow? A beast?

"Brown hair, blue eyes, dressed in bright colors?"

Geralt is looking for him.

Jaskier gets excited for a moment, before remembering Geralt still has his things. He probably just wanted to drop his things off and leave him again.

"I haven't seen a man like that." "He- He… He looks sad. He was crying."

Geralt brings up this detail as if it pains him to even speak of it. Jaskier is confused about this, as it was technically Geralt's fault Jaskier ended up crying at all.

"I haven't seen him." "If you do, tell me. Please."

And Geralt moves to ask the same exact questions to the very next person in view.

Jaskier watches as he asks every single person in town, getting more and more desperate. By the end of the night, Geralt sits in an inn room with a large single bed, hugging a lute, as his eyes tear up.

Jaskier sits beside him, assures him he's fine, pleads with Geralt to not mess with the delicate lute, and demands he get happy and stop this frankly heart-wrenching display.

Jaskier tries moving items, tries clapping his hands, tries punching people, tries screaming his head off, but nobody notices him. Except Roach. And a barncat that ran away once it caught sight of Geralt in the distance. Great.

Jaskier can only silently observe as Geralt grieves Jaskier, hopes for him to return, prays that he's safe even though he left his lute , hums his songs under his breath before shaking his head and sighing, whispers "Please forgive me" to empty air. Jaskier has. Jaskier forgave him long ago at this point.

Jaskier's had enough. Jaskier's been annoying and loud his entire life. Surely he can make enough of a fuss to get the animals around Geralt to act up enough for Geralt to know something's up. He starts cooing at Roach and luring her in odd directions with the same promises he made before it all went to shit. Geralt knows something is wrong, but suspects it's with Roach, and not the environment around her. That is, until Geralt is in the middle of a hunt, and suddenly the creature he's there to kill can NOT focus on him, and instead keeps following some invisible being as they race back and forth across the clearing.

[crow-posting]

Since Destiny lore is inaccessible (I've seen the question, "Do Guardians need to eat?" cross my dash several times and it's Driving Me Nuts™), here are some users and resources I use when searching for lore/grimoire:

@thefirstknife on Tumblr

My Name Is Byf on YouTube

Destiny Lore Vault on YouTube

www.Ishtar-Collective.net

Destinypedia.com

Destiny Dialogue Archive

Destiny Definitions [flavor text] Archive

-

Destiny 1 Grimoire lore (PDFs)

Destiny Collector's Edition lore (Reddit links)

-

Destiny 1 beta archive & cutscene archive

Destiny 2 Cutscene Archive [Seasons 13-20]

[outtheoiseaux]

I think post-canon Dirk would be impossible to locate at any given time.

That story about the 8 euro cafe breakfast is true, by the way. Paris breakfasts are strange and full of carbs

[elmundodeflor]

And just like that, she’d fallen for him.

Spring. Summer. Autumn. The world had its cycles. There had been peace before war, and peace would come after bloodsheds and battles.

Katara looks at Zuko, at how he stares out to the width in the horizons. The curves of his nose and lips are soft, much like the colors of the leaves around them. The lines of his jaw and cheeks are sharp, in contrast.

He’s a beautiful man; she’s always thought so, even when they were enemies and he’d sworn he’d kill them. She likes it better this way, though— being friends, confidants, long-time companions. Kindness suits him more, either way. She likes how his face looks when he’s calm, — when there’s no rage to contort his scar, no scowl furrowing his brow.

She also likes that he knows her. That they can stand, silence pending between them, and it’s never too tense or uncomfortable. Zuko is just that good to her. He never puts too much pressure on her shoulders, — she’s had enough of that already. Instead, he soothes the rough edges. Lets her make her own choices and never judges her for them.

He looks back at her. An easy smile grazes his features; baffling, tortuous, beautiful. Katara has to fight the urge to freeze some water from her bottle and smash it across her searing face.

“Do you wanna…”, his voice cuts through the wind, raspy as it ever was. When he talks, it’s evident that he’s nervous. That he’s been circling around his thoughts and can’t seem to find the words. “I mean…”, he tries again. “Do you wanna stay here until you decide what to do?”

She hums, then turns her gaze back to the gardens. Aang had asked her to travel the world along with him, — to be by his side and help other people, from other nations and villages. She had yet to give him a proper answer.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to— go on missions, hear the masses’ suffering and be present in whatever way she could. Maybe, it was that she simply had pictured something different for herself. She could be so much more than just the “Avatar’s girl”! She could go home, lend a useful hand to Sokka and her dad advocating for their tribe. She could be an ambassador.

She could be with Zuko.

She can imagine the whole thing all too well, actually, — being on the palace, with him, until she could confront Aang about what to do. They could go for an evening stroll, feed turtleducks by the lake. Zuko’d make tea way past dinner time, and she’d laugh along with Suki when he’d burn his tongue by the first sip.

“There’s nothing I’d like more.”, she tells him, then. They are in one of the many balconies, staring out at the sun. The last scraps of summer have flushed with the breeze, and now the trees look all kinds of reds, yellows, oranges. Almost like they’ve caught on fire.

Zuko smiles at her again. A shy, wonderful thing that makes his eyes glint. His hair’s shaggy and overgrown, and falls limp between the honey of his irises. His cheeks burn a bright pink that, Katara deduces, might be from the gentle light warming up their faces.

“Okay.”, he says. He likes this, as well, — having her around. That he can open up to someone he can share his scars with, both the physical and the ones that lay underneath.

Katara inches close to him, just enough so that their elbows nudge together. The world has its cycles, she believes. Blue skies bleed into the darkness of the night. Ice defrosts when heated-up. And just like that, she’d fall for Zuko— delicate, and raw, and over and over. Helpless, like the moon that carries down the tides. Hopeless, like the autumn leaves that fall, ever so slow, and now gather at their feet like sea-foam.

“Okay.”

[the-gayest-fungus]

some ghosts headcanons after the hotel/golf course is built:

Cap gets a crush on any vaguely put-together man with a decent golf swing.

Julian likes to make "swinging" jokes that go over the Captain's head.

Robin likes to chase and find stray golf balls that get lost. He and Julian update Alison on the number of golf balls in the lake every time she visits.

Robin also knows all the strategies for golf, having hyperfixated on it since the golfing company started working on the land.

Thomas gave up on paying attention to golf after finding out the aim is to get the least points.

There is a historic tour around the hotel and grounds, which gets a lots of facts slightly wrong. The first few times, the ghosts went on the tour and corrected everything. Since Alison couldn't prove most of their accounts to the tour guides, not much could be changed. The ghosts still insist the tour is bogus.

Fanny and Humphrey's portraits get professionally restored.

The hotel also hosts some art and sports groups. Robin was very excited when they started doing zumba regularly. Pat and the Captain like to watch cricket games in the summer. One time they tried to join in, but stopped as soon as one of them got stepped through.

Thomas and Kitty both like to watch cute couples who stay in the hotel, especially at dinner. One time they both end up watching the same couple for the evening. Thomas tried very hard to stop Kitty following them to their bedroom, but ended up joining her in spying on them. They don't talk about it.

Pat and the Captain go on a "double date" where they follow a pair of golfers on their anniversary. Pat starts by telling the Captain about the tactics being used (club type, angle, etc) but gets outshined by one of the golfers who clearly knows more.

[qiu-yan]

sensitive topic incoming

not a haterpost i promise.

sect leader yao is not a reliable source

further explanation/hypothesizing:

it happened exactly as sect leader yao said: self-explanatory. the version of events preferred by jiggy antis

he mercy-killed rusong: maybe rusong was already showing signs of a life-altering disorder as a result of the incest. or maybe jiggy just felt that, if the incest information ever came out, rusong would be doomed to a life of suffering in a heavily prejudiced society. jiggy himself had spent his entire life suffering and getting kicked around due to his own proximity to society's pariahs/taboos, so perhaps he felt that he could not subject his son to the same miserable existence. thus, jiggy gave rusong a more peaceful end, before (in jiggy's mind) society could force rusong to suffer.

he allowed rusong to die through inaction: this is really only a "kill" under a utilitarian moral framework. by this explanation, maybe jiggy found out in advance that someone was planning to kill rusong; however, for any of the other reasons listed here, jiggy decided to do nothing and allow the assassination to happen. thus jiggy would consider himself guilty of allowing rusong's death to happen through inaction.

he did it to justify eliminating an opponent of the watchtowers: maybe the advancement of the watchtower project, which jiggy knew would make society a safer place, had hit a deadlock because of a particularly stubborn opponent. so jiggy killed rusong and framed the opponent in order to engineer a situation in which his annihilation of the opponent would be entirely socially sanctioned.

and here is where the utilitarian arguments come in. perhaps jiggy knew that the watchtower project would improve the lives of millions of people and would make society as a whole safer. and he saw that one political opponent as the final major barrier. and jiggy could think of no other way to get rid of this guy. so jiggy weighed the lives of those millions of people against his one son, and concluded those millions of strangers were weightier; his son became his iphigenia.

of course, this is still a rather unhinged plan to just come up with on your own, so perhaps a better explanation of events is this reasoning paired with the "he allowed rusong to die through inaction" series of events.

rusong was killed by political opponents and jiggy blamed himself: now we reach the "he didn't do it" section of the potential explanations. jiggy has a habit of claiming kills he didn't strictly perform himself; so long as the chain of cause and effect can somehow be traced to somewhere near him eventually, jiggy will claim credit for someone's death. this is how jiggy takes credit for the death of jin zixuan: even though [novel canon] no one forced wei wuxian to lose control of wen ning and no one forced wen ning to attack jin zixuan, jiggy still acts as if he can call himself jin zixuan's killer, simply because he sent jin zixuan to wei wuxian's location.

jiggy, in pursuing the watchtower project, aroused a lot of public anger. jiggy made himself, and by extension his wife and his child, the political enemies of many, and thus political targets as well. thus, if an enemy targets the life of jin rusong because they are jiggy's enemy, jiggy is entirely justified in feeling as if rusong's death is his fault. after all, if he hadn't pursued the watchtower project, then maybe rusong would still be alive.

jiggy said "he had to die" as a Cope: losing your son sucks. perhaps jiggy, in the despair following his son's death, tried to cope with the new reality by telling himself that rusong would have had to die anyways, because he was an incest baby. if rusong was always slated to die, then the fact that rusong is now dead can now be survived. thus, "rusong had to die" becomes an emotional coping mechanism for jiggy.

no, jiggy himself is uncertain if he allowed rusong to die through inaction: this one is a a bit fanciful but bear with me here. on one hand, jiggy loves his wife and son. on the other hand, jiggy is horrified by his marriage with his wife and by the existence of his son, because his wife is also his sister and his son is the product of incest. jiggy lives with not only this horror but also the constant fear of exposure, because if this information ever got out, the lives of himself, his wife, and his son would all be over.

rusong's growth thus becomes a source of dread, not hope: every day lived brings the possibility of rusong developing some disorder or condition that eventually proves the incest. is it not possible that jiggy, living every day under such fear, might come to believe that things would be better if rusong stopped growing older? if rusong died--then gone too would be the evidence of the incest, would it not?

now along comes the political opponent who assassinates rusong. jiggy does not see it coming and jiggy is thus unable to stop it. but afterwards, upon beholding the corpse of his son, what does jiggy feel? rage? despair? no--relief! he feels relief! though he also grieves, the constant fear shrouding his entire life has, for once, lifted!

but if jiggy is relieved by the death of his son, what does this imply? can jiggy truly say, with full confidence, that he did not see the assassination coming? can he really say, with heaven and earth as his witnesses, that his failure to stop the assassination was not to some degree a choice? is there truly no small part of him that did in fact see the assassination coming--yet, knowing it would be so relieving for him, simply chose to do nothing?

but if jiggy did not see the assassination coming at all--if rusong's death truly cannot be pinned on jiggy at all--then what does that say about jiggy's power? about jiggy's safety? jiggy being innocent of killing through inaction means that jinlintai really is somewhere assassins can penetrate into. then jiggy's son really was killed by a force jiggy had no way of stopping. then, in this situation, jiggy really was powerless.

you can remove the ambiguity and argue the case either way: jiggy knew about the assassination and let it happen, jiggy legitimately knew nothing and could not have stopped the assassination. but the ambiguity makes this scenario more interesting to me. jiggy lives for the rest of his days uncertain if he chose to allow his son to die through inaction, or if he really was just weak enough to fail to protect his son. maybe jiggy's memories of the incident even manage to start distorting after a while, implying either one or the other depending on jiggy's own mental situation.

thus, when jiggy says "rusong had to die," he's uncertain if he's justifying his actions or delusionally coping with a reality he had no hand in making. when jiggy says "i killed my son," he's uncertain if he's even telling the truth or not.

ah well. this is basically original fiction at this point. it's just a potential scenario.

anyways, these are just a few scenarios based on various meta and fanfics of this subject ive read over the past few months. you can probably come up with all sorts of explanations. whatever you come up with, though, should be better than just blindly taking sect leader yao at his word.

[the-8-of-spades]

She-Ra fics I consider canon

Hey gang! here's a list of (mostly post-canon) fics I've read over the years that are I feel are well written and in character enough that they could be canon to the show, and to an extent, each other! I put the list in order for anyone who wants to read it like a season 6 :D

Don't Go - extended version of scenes in S5E5 and S5E6. Written by ND Stevenson so is basically already canon. Angst and fluff

Daylight - picks up a day after the s5 finale. Catra & Adora begin to really understand that they're free to live a peaceful life. Tooth rotting fluff.

Pros & Cons (NSFW) - Bow and Glimmer seem joined to Adora at the hip 24/7, and Catra just wants to make out with her girlfriend. Has a couple lines that could be seen as contradictory or foreshadowing to Carry our Bodies. Mostly 3/4ths fluff, 1/4th smut.

Carry our Bodies Safe to Shore - Adora finds an old Horde incident report, and Catra has to tell Adora about the kiss that Shadow Weaver erased from her memory. Angst and fluff.

Keep on Walking, Come What Will - Adora & Catra accidentally get engaged. Pure fluff

Alternatively, Princess Prom 2.0 (One Year Later) - Adora & Catra get engaged on purpose. Pure fluff

^ honestly, I reconcile these two by head canon-ing that the "accidental engagement," happens at the impromptu princess prom and then they get too busy for a wedding and then the on purpose engagement happens at the real princess prom, because both are so well written and so in character.

Anachronism (and sequel) - Adora & Catra get traumatized again while rescuing Angella.

^ (Fic is pretty good, mostly on here because I haven't found any fit that does "rescuing Angella" better, lmk if you have any recs!). Angst and Fluff. I don't think there's any NSFW but it's a long fic and it's been a while since I read it.

If anyone has any other recommendations for this list please leave them in the replies! I would love to expand this list until I have a sixth season worth of content!! (also only one NSFW fic rn cause I mostly read fluff lol but if anyone has NSFW recs that feel canon send those as well!)

Addition 1: honorable mention for Breathing Room by ResFlower because it is almost IDENTICAL to a scene from one of the others where Catra has to break it to Adora that their fight in the Red Waste was actually Double Trouble.

[jaynovz]

In discussions about the finale of Black Sails, one of the things I often see is folks hard-focusing on Flint's fate, in an either-or binary fashion, usually presented as "Which do you believe-- that Silver killed him? or sent him to the plantation?"

Now, for posterity's sake, gonna mention a few things-- first off, that's simply not thinking broadly enough. There are farrrr more than two options here and I've come up with my share of the reallyyyyy bad ones for sure. Whatever your mind chooses, none of those are happy endings anyway, there are bittersweet, bad, and worse endings all the way down. (They are paused, they are in a time loop, and also all endings and no endings are happening simultaneously)

But also, the more cogent point is that, it doesn't actually matter what happened *to Flint* The story is... not actually about him at that point. We have transitioned from Flint as protag to Silver as protag, setting up for (the fanfiction that Black Sails has ended up making of, ugh, king shit) Treasure Island.

And so, I just, don't find it to be of particular interest exploring what we think Flint is actually doing or if he's alive for real. What is EXTREMELY interesting to explore though is how Silver's speech at the end to Madi is sort of giving Thomas back to Flint as a pacifier/comfort object, but how... Silver is giving Flint that thing in his own mind as his own type of pacifier/comfort object.

That's the REALLY chewy bit. What actually happens to Flint is not the purpose of that scene for me, of Silver's recounting of events to Madi. It's more about... projection. It's about how Silver is dealing with whatever happened to Flint/whatever he did.

And I just feel like it's missing the point to focus so hard on if Flint is alive or not.

He is the ghost of the story regardless, that's what's important. He's going to haunt the narrative for the rest of everyone's lives. No one has been untouched or unscarred by coming into contact with Captain Flint; he has a forever legacy. I'm not the first to call him this, but he's Schrödinger's Flint and he's staying that way.

But this?

"No. I did not kill Captain Flint. I unmade him. The man you know could never let go of his war. For if he were to exclude it from himself, he would not be able to understand himself. So I had to return him to an earlier state of being. One in which he could function without the war. Without the violence. Without us. Captain Flint was born out of great tragedy. I found a way to reach into the past... and undo it. There is a place near Savannah... where men unjustly imprisoned in England are sent in secret. An internment far more humane, but no less secure. Men who enter these gates never leave them. To the rest of the world, they simply cease to be. He resisted... at first. But then I told him what else I had heard about this place. I was told prominent families amongst London society made use of it. I was told the governor in Carolina made use of it. So I sent a man to find out if they'd used it to hide away one particular prisoner. He returned with news. Thomas Hamilton was there. He disbelieved me. He continued to resist. And corralling him took great effort. But the closer we got to Savannah, his resistance began to diminish. I couldn't say why. I wasn't expecting it. Perhaps he'd finally reached the limits of his physical ability to fight. Or perhaps as the promise of seeing Thomas got closer... he grew more comfortable letting go of this man he created in response to his loss. The man whose mind I had come to know so well... whose mind I'd in some ways incorporated into my own. It was a strange experience to see something from it... so unexpected. I choose to believe it... because it wasn't the man I had come to know at all... but one who existed beforehand... waking from a long... and terrible nightmare. Reorienting to the daylight... and the world as it existed before he first closed his eyes... letting the memory of the nightmare fade away. You may think what you want of me. I will draw comfort in the knowledge that you're alive to think it. But I'm not the villain you fear I am. I'm not him."

This is the speech of a man who is self-soothing, who is spinning himself a tale, who is projecting, who is coping.

and THAT is just, way chewier, innit?