Into the Summer Sea
| Jim/Blair Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Into the Summer Sea |
| Author(s): | Audra Rose |
| Date(s): | 11 August 2004 |
| Length: | 10843 words |
| Genre: | Slash, |
| Fandom: | The Sentinel |
| External Links: | Into the Summer Sea at AO3 (locked to registered users) |
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Into the Summer Sea is a Jim/Blair story by Audra Rose.
Trilogy
- Into the Summer Sea
- Sand and Water Here on AO3 (locked to registered users)
- Still the Deep Here on AO3 (locked to registered users)
Reactions and Reviews
Summary: This takes place after Sen Too. Blair has not fully recovered from the drowning that left him dead for an indefinite period of time. The doctors can't find any physical reason for his complaints, and Blair's afraid they are going to tell him he's got brain damage.Jim, meanwhile, is watching helplessly as the man he loves is fading away. He confesses to Megan that he doesn't have the right to tell Blair he loves him because of his culpability in the events that led up to Blair's drowning. Besides, he's sure that Blair is straight and he thought he was himself, so he's not ready to declare anything.
But Blair's problems go deeper than damaged lungs or panic attacks. He thinks he's having vivid nightmares, but what's really happening is that he's being pulled into the spiritual plane. And when he starts seeing ghosts who come to visit him with a warning, it's going to take every bit of Jim's love and support to help Blair survive.
Reccer's Notes: Canon kind of dropped the ball (IMO) by not pursuing Incacha's shaman blessing to Blair. Fortunately, we have a lot of talented writers who make up for that shortcoming. Whether Blair is predisposed and Incacha recognized that in him, or whether this is an aftereffect of his NDE (a la The Dead Zone), you can decide for yourself. Audra Rose will keep you riveted with this complex tale of love. Enjoy.[1]
I'll steal Ainm's line and adapt it for that fic: people who say that post-S2P2 has been fully explored are nuts mistaken and Audra showed them all the errors of their ways. It's the first part of a complex and compelling series which deals with the mystical and paranormal in a wonderful way. It's haunting in places, I just love it. I rec it each time someone wants to read TS, and this little meme is no exception. Audra doesn't just tell stories like the rest of us - read her fics and you'll see what I mean.[2]
Another pivotal episode in The Sentinel fandom is "Sentinel Too" where Blair drowns in the fountain at the university. The series almost ended there, and it's an episode that launched a thousand fics. "Into the Summer Sea" manages to be both mysterious and moving. Blair is changed by his experience in the fountain--profoundly changed. He's become intimate with death, and although the doctors say he should be fine now, Blair knows that he isn't. Jim's watching Blair fade away, but he's so consumed with his own guilt and his hidden feelings for Blair that he doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to stop Blair from disappearing, and he's terrified.
The alternating first person POV is occasionally confusing--it requires the reader to shift from inside Blair's head to inside Jim's--but I'm not sure the story would've been as effective without that inside POV. It references a number of TS eps, but even if you're not intimately familiar with the series, the story still works extrememely well. It's surreal and erotic and emotional, and you'll feel the fear, the desperate need to hold on to something real, the chill of rain on your skin. The best word I can use to describe this story is "haunting" - it's absolutely beautiful.[3]
I'll try to go against my nature and be short and concise here *g* I have a thing for Post SenToo stories and in particular those stories where the writer doesn't gloss over the aftermath of The Fountain scene. I never liked how everything got so quickly forgotten canon and I don't like it any better fanon - as if dying didn't mean anything, or as if seeing your lover best friend supposedly dead and coming back to life equalled a walk in the park. Audra doesn't neglect the consequences and even go a step further - she not only deals with the physical plane but the mystical one as well, and this is another aspect that I loved so very much in her story. The building relationship between the guys and how she portrayed them being another. I really enjoyed her characterisation of Jim and Blair and considering it's her very first TS fic... well that was pretty impressive *g* [4]
References
- ^ The Sentinel: Into the Summer Sea trilogy by Audra Rose, Archived version at Fancake. Posted 24 September 2014.
- ^ calic0cat: That TS story meme…, Archived version Posted 20 November 2005.
- ^ Lacey McBain. Into the Summer Sea by Audra Rose (NC-17), Archived version at Crack Van. Posted 17 January 2006.
- ^ from a rec at TS Fresh Air, Archived version