Fic: The Sacrificial Mage (McKay/Sheppard; Teyla/Kanaan; Weir/Zelenka, R)

[sgasesa-admin.livejournal.com]

ADMIN NOTE: Story removed at author's request and with recipient's agreement.

Title: The Sacrificial Mage
Author: taste_is_sweet
Recipient: lavvyan
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard; Teyla/Kanaan; background Weir/Zelenka
Rating: R
Word Count: About 65,000
Disclaimer: Nothing in the story to do with Stargate: Atlantis belongs to me. Some of the other stuff doesn't either.
Warnings: Graphic violence; self-harm which could possibly be triggering.
Author's Notes: I had the honor of writing for lavvyan, who wanted a long, plotty McShep fic with Pining!John, Oblivious! Or Aware! but Rejecting!Rodney (for a good reason), and lots of drama and angsting before the mandatory Happy Ending. She also wanted AUs (preferably Fairy Tale AUs), little to no sex, skin hunger, John or Rodney protecting the other, Team Coolness and Radek. Not necessarily in that order. I think I got 'em all. ;D

I can say with no word of a lie that I worked like hell for this. This story was a labor of love that ended up being a successful NaNoWriMo novel, and then longer besides. I had been excited about the challenge of writing a perfect story gift for a stranger anyway, and when it turned out my recipient wasn't so much of a stranger after all it just made it that much better. (There's a homage to you in here, Lavvyan, above and beyond the entire story itself).

I had a blast with this thing, and I can only hope that lavvyan enjoys reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it for her.

Fun though this story was to write, I would never have finished it without the help and boundless enthusiasm of a bunch of wonderful people: The entire wrisomifu community with their tireless support and cheerleading; annieb1955, fish_echo and ribbon_purple because of their invaluable help with sorting out how this universe even worked and how I could make the Thing I Desperately Needed to Happen actually happen at all; and anna_bird and squeakyoflight, who were exactly the kind of beta readers I needed, and whose constant requests for the next chapter while the story was still in progress was the best kind of indication that I was doing okay.

Summary: Magic was a substance, like fire or water. It was abundant and incredibly powerful and could be manipulated with the correct application of knowledge and will. But if you didn't use it properly, you'd be immolated or drowned. Or worse: other people would be, and you'd be forced to watch it happening. That was why it terrified him to see the casual, unthinking way Teyla and Carson used magic, because he knew that someday they'd be forced to pay for what they'd taken. Every wizard would, sooner or later. It was the first thing mages ever learned, and Rodney had lived it.

Magic was a zero-sum game. If you didn't sacrifice as much as you were given, you would lose.

( The Sacrificial Mage )

Comments

[lilyfarfalla.livejournal.com]

This was so so fantastic. It’s like the best children’s (young adult?) book I’ve read in ages, plus John/Rodney. And Teyla! Oh, lovely, amazing, singing, Teyla, with her red skein of yarn. (Which reminds me: the titles of the chapters were so perfect. So perfect!)

And Ronon, who could see into the future. It just fits so perfectly for him, and I don’t know if I can even say why. And oh, the evil of the chair, and the myth of mage magic, and how Rodney finally figures out how to defeat it, and how to accept Teyla’s help.

And John! John, who had wings, and had them torn off, and was changed into a monster as a gift! It’s so ridiculously and perfectly angsty. Oh, lovely lovely blue bug John. I so loved how he could talk to Rodney, even without words, and how important that was to him, and how they just clicked so naturally.

And oh Rodney, who has scars all over his arms from using his magic to help people, to heal and protect them. (And Elizabeth, who hides hers on her thighs, so she can be a queen.)

Oh man, and having Rodney accidentally turn Radek and Elizabeth into metal golems was BRILLIANT. I’d thought at first that Rodney had been replacing lost limbs with metal ones, but having be an inadvertent result of his use of the chair was so much better—more tragic and awful for him, better for the readers.

I’m not being very coherent, but basically: I loved everything. I’m going to keep this one close to the heart for a while.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for that wonderful comment! I'm truly honoured that the story meant that much to you. Thank you so much for letting me know.