Unsung

Sentinel Fanfiction
Title:	Unsung
Author(s):	Legion
Date(s):
Length:	19960 words
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Sentinel
External Links:	online here Unsung (AO3)(Locked to registered users)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Unsung is a Jim/Blair story by Legion.

Summary

"A disaster brings out the pure sentinel in Jim, much to Blair's dismay."

Reactions and Reviews

This story still blows me away every time I read it. Legion is an author who has done wonderful explorations of what it means to be a Sentinel and a Guide, in all different settings, but I think this is the best one. It certainly is the one that resonates most with me, particularly in light of the recent string of natural disasters. This is reason enough to wish we were gifted with Sentinels. I really can't do it justice, so go, read, and read again.

Here is one of my favorite fic in this fandom.

I can't say exactly when this fic takes place but Jim and Blair are sure of themselves and of their friendship. Their time of incertitudes and doubts seem far away. And while neither Jim nor Blair exactly knows what's happening Jim trusts in Blair and accept his help.

I love the way the whole police department shines in this story. The way the characters act in the wake of a natural disaster of such a magnitude rings true.

Legion manages to show the utter destruction following a disaster but still instill hope and love all through the story.

This is such an excellent story. Easily my favorite Legion story and probably in my top five for all of Sentinel.

I really love this fic. You get both hope and destruction. And all the characters are well-crafted. I can't help reading it again and again...

All of Legion's work is amazing, but this one is so uplifting and gives you so many warm-fuzzies you just have to read it over and over again. Timeline-wise, it seems to be post-TSbyBS, or slightly AU of such. Blair's still a consultant with the police, but Jim has had his senses "not much more than four years" and Simon mentions that Blair gave up his life for the Sentinel stuff. Honestly it doesn't matter much to the story.

This is a great fic. I love how Legion makes the Sentinel part of Jim so different and so awesome. The author gives this synopsis A natural disaster hits Cascade, bringing out the pure Sentinel in Jim - much to Blair's initial dismay. I highly reccommend this story. It's an amazing read and will leave you breathless.

Summary:

There are so many ways to summarize this story, but I think possibly the best way is that this story is about when to take things on faith. When do you stop questioning every little thing, as fascinating as they are, and go with your instincts, despite the fact that you really don't have good, concrete reasons to do so? In this piece, Jim senses something awful in the wind, and Blair encourages him to go with it. It's difficult not to give too much away here, for those who haven't read it, because the type and style of disaster is essential to the plotline. But the main thing is, Jim's instincts are right on the money on this one, and the result is that things wind up much better than they could have been.

Analysis:

Beautiful. That's one of the best words to describe this piece. The best thing about this story is that it showcases the very best a sentinel and guide pair can be. It's an uplifting piece, even out of context with the source text or the rest of Sentinel fanfiction. In context, it's even more impactful.

The Sentinel source canon describes a sentinel who is broken, for all intents and purposes, who is struggling with his senses, and what they mean to him as a person, as a cop, and is especially struggling with how to integrate those senses into his life without that life imploding on him. Blair, as Jim's Guide, is equally non-functional, in the beginning. He doesn't know what he's doing, really, he's not confident of his own gifts and uniqueness, and he's missing the point of his own brass ring. A large part of Sentinel canon is the story of how these two misfits come into their own, and how they learn to depend on each other, despite social taboos that say they shouldn't, and how they learn to use their gifts, which modern-day scientific wisdom says is all a bunch of hooey.

Sentinel fanfic AUs often build on that broken-ness. I can name 3 AUs off the top of my head where the sentinel-guide relationship is stretched and distorted due to circumstance. Where the struggle is just to have a life one can live with, never mind such concepts as functioning appropriately or being efficient and good at what you do. And then there's things like Virg Vaughn's Damned, which, while good (incredible, excellent!), carries this bitter glass metaphor to the horrific extreme.

In this context, Unsung reminds me somewhat of 'The Two Trees' sung by Loreena McKinnot - which describes two states of mind using trees as metaphors. The bitter glass's image is of a tree dying and in pain, with crows in it's branches cawing and mocking passers-by cruelly. The picture is one of the heart's despair. Unsung, however, is the second tree, the second image. Unsung 'gaze(s) no more into the bitter glass'. Instead, the tree shown is bright and green with leaves. Squirells play in the branches, and children enjoy the shade. Unsung is an AU potraying the sentinel and his guide as they was meant to be: at the top of their game, working efficiently and effectively together as a *team*, warning their tribe of disaster, and making the disaster as minimally painful as possible.

The main thing that doesn't work for me about this story is more of a nitpick issue than a huge one. More of an 'well, if I wrote this, I would have done it this way...' thing. And that is the slash relationship peeking through at the end of the story. There's enough drama here, enough story here, that it's completely un-necessary to have that bit. Seriously, you could have completely taken it out, and the story would still be just as beautiful. On the other hand, it's not an *intrusive* thing. The minor slashy introduction doesn't detract from the main story line at all. It's just that as an artistic choice, I would have written it as a missing scene adjunct to the main piece.

I just read this story today, after you asked about it. I loved it, the frantic pacing, the soothing interludes. It was freaky and beautiful all at the same time. I love how Jim tapped into himself and made Blair see that there was something he needed to touch as well. The two of them working together in harmony was beautiful.