Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death

Fanfiction
Title:	Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death
Author(s):	derryere
Date(s):	05 August 2009
Length:	75,593 words
Genre:	slash fanfiction
Fandom:	Merlin
External Links:	story link and fanart story cover of the Russian translation
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Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death is a Merlin/Arthur slash novel by derryere. It was written for the Merlin Big Bang Box of Magic in 2009. Word count: 75,593.

Summary: "Tony O does not befriend losers. Tony O is not gay, not crazy, he is not particularly nice and he is most definitely not royalty. Destiny disagrees."

The Big Bang artwork for this story includes a b/w drawing of Merlin and Arthur by ladykuja, a Merlin/Arthur art collaboration by xenakis and Yue KX, and a wallpaper by likeasugarcube.

"Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death" was one of the most commented-on stories that came out of the Big Bang.

The story is reincarnation!fic and apparently readers need to be prepared to cry a lot of tears before the characters get their happy ending.

Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death was translated into Russian by WebKitten, [me] for the_miracle, Швеллер. Pakost made an illustration of Arthur and Merlin strolling down a road with canon era Camelot on one side and the modern story setting on the other.

Fic Trailer

Main article: Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death (Merlin vid)

In 2010 nerjaveika posted a fic trailer based on the Russian translation of the novel. After The Crown of the Summer Court it is nerjaveika's second Merlin fic vid posted to MxA that is not just a promo but also a vidded version of the story itself. The result is 5:19 minutes long and uses extensive external footage and effects to visualize both plot and essence of the novel.

The footage in this vid is from Merlin (1&2), Skins, No night is too long, Lewis (Music to die for), Doctor who (s4ep10), Dis/connected, Latter days.

Recs and Reviews

Brilliant Merthur reincarnation fic. The jagged edges of Tony and Emory's personalities draw blood as they're trying to figure out how they fit together, spurred along by fragmented, unwanted, memories. It is isn't flawless, but close enough, really.

I'm fairly sure I've already read this fic but it's such a long time ago I forgot where the story is going and it depressed me somewhat and got stuck in the middle of the fic procrastinating and angsting over reading further because while I'm fairly sure of the hopeful ending for the reincarnated ones, the doomed feeling for their past selves kinda broke me, making me fear to read further. Yeah, I know it's kinda bit silly now that I've finished it.

The premise is cool but I found myself flying through and skimming because there's so much boring shit I just don't care about. At 50 pages I put it down... and came back to finish about a month later.

I gave this three stars because the bones are so very good. But it needs some serious editing, both to cut out extraneous stuff and also to be more concise. For example, we had to wait until the total end of the book to get anything more than hand jobs. Fine. But when they finally fuck it is Twenty.Fucking.Pages.Long. And I just could not take it.

There could have been better resolution. It was poetic and deep and shit, but I would have liked follow up with their friends and family. After all the build-up, the ending seemed too sudden.

Really really adored this piece of fic. Haven't read that many Merthur fanfics that surprised me in such a (good) way. This is rather one of them. Loved it, although it had its weaknesses here and there.

Finally finished this! I was so upset I couldn't finish it the first time I tried. But to be honest it started out boring as hell and I wasn't as obsessive over Merthur as I am nowadays. It's gotten really bad where I just have to buy and collect as many Arthurian Legend books as I can. Preferably with some modern day elements.

This is one of the best fics I've ever read. Sure, there are some minor mistakes in writing even I could notice but I still consider this kind of masterpiece. I haven't slept entire night so overwhelming it was, so many emotions. Every detail. It felt like watching a very good movie, you could see every scene, feel them. And that's not only your imagination, it was like author looked through my heart, my soul. This is magic.

There were few moments I even sobbed, but in the end I really felt happy, that there are authors like this giving you such a good story that you can't get over it even after long time passes... I tried...

And failed...

Quite liked it, despite it being a bit whiny, with the repetition of flashbacks to trauma almost any time they started to get things sort of right in present time...

This fic is far less cracky than the summary or the first scene implies (I stopped reading it twice because I thought… not my thing… but started it again because it was recc'd so highly) The premise is a Reincarnation!fic. It's funny, and poignant and heartbreaking at times. And Lord, there is a lot of hot sex. The boys are both pretty much sulky, broody college students that seem to hate their lives and each other and are suddenly inundated with memories that are not their own. Their characterization are a little far from canon for my tastes, Arthur is not exactly 'princely' nor Merlin 'heroic' in any sense. But the TRAGIC LOVE STORY of it all worked for me, and I'm a sucker for a second chance.