Vila/Kerril

Pairing
Pairing:	Vila Restal / Kerril
Alternative name(s):	none known
Gender category:	het, m/f
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Canonical?:	temporarily
Prevalence:	rare, but some very prominent fanworks
Archives:	Vila/Kerril on AO3
Other:
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The pairing of Vila Restal and the one-episode character Kerril is one of the rarer het pairings in the Blake's 7 fandom.

It involves thief, reluctant rebel and member of Blake's crew, Vila, with Kerril, mercenary and part of Bayban's crew, from the episode City at the Edge of the World (C06).

Canonically, the two characters meet and separate in the span of the episode, at the end of which Vila decides to return to the Liberator while seeing Kerril to safety through a portal to a far-flung, unknown and uninhabited planet.

Kerril: Are you coming with me?

Vila: I can't.

Kerril: Why not? It's a chance to be free. You saw that place, it's beautiful.

Vila: But there's nothing there worth stealing. [...] Kerril, a thief isn't what I am, it's WHO I am.

Kerril: Forget it.

Vila: You wouldn't like what was left of me.

Kerril: What makes you think I like you at all?

Vila: Because you can't like someone without them liking you back. And I like you, Kerril, more than anyone. Anyone I've ever known.

Kerril: The difference is, I love you.

C06 City at the Edge of Forever by Chris Boucher, transcript from Hermit.org

Fandom

Though Kerril appears in only one episode, at the end of which she and Vila seem to separate forever, the consequences of this choice are thematised in fanworks about Vila even when Kerril does not directly appear. More rarely, fics focus on Kerril after the separation from Vila (often but not always including a pregnancy). However, there are also fanworks which expand on their relationship with both parties present.

From the zine era, there are 11 stories listed for "Vila/Kerril in gen zines" and 7 stories for "Vila/Kerril in slash and adult zines" (of which all but one are Avon/Vila/Kerril) on hermit.org.

The pairings seems to have lost popularity in the move to internet fandom, or at least not gained any, with only 8 works under the pairing tag on AO3 as of September 2020, though more might make mention of the short-term affair between Vila and Kerril in City without warranting the pairing tag.

However, Vila/Kerril had some prominence in the zine era fandom, not least because it features in one of the most well-known single-story fanzines, Last Stand at the Edge of the World.

While the fanzine is often classified as gen, possibly because the pairing is somewhat canonical as well as het, it expands on the Vila/Kerril relationship: Kerril became pregnant with Vila's child during the events of City, and it ultimately sees them in a bonded relationship (which also includes Avon, though the zine is not explicitly Avon/Vila, slash or threesome). Last Stand at the Edge of the World also seems to have inspired a large number of Vila/Kerril and Vila/Kerril/Avon fics in the zine era. Many fanworks with Vila/Kerril therefore also include Avon.

Fanworks

Fanfic

As Kerril appears canonically only in City, a common theme of Vila/Kerril fanfics is AUs, in which Vila choses to go with Kerril instead of returning to the Liberator or in which Kerril accompanies him, as well as PGP (Post-Gauda Prime) fics, in which Vila is reunited with Kerril after the events of the show.

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

• Last Stand at the Edge of the World and its sequel, Shadow at the Edge, a PGP reunion fic.
• Three Things That Never Happened to Vila Restal by valderys; includes a short AU in which Vila goes with Kerril at the end of City.
• Dreams and Things by Kathy H.; a post-City Vila h/c story in which Kerril seems to mysteriously appear on the Liberator, thematising Vila's regret at having left her behind.
• Not to Know by Harriet Bazley, an AU novel the events of which are triggered by Kerril joining the Liberator's crew.

Fanart

• 

  Interior lustration from Last Stand by Dani Lane

• 

  Avon/Vila/Kerril by Leah Rosenthal

• 

  A humorous comic from Roads Not Taken, depicting Vila/Kerril among other B7 het pairings

• 

  back cover of Banzine #1, Holly Hutchison. From a discussion in 2016: "Back cover to Banzine! #1, a multi-media (Doctor Who, Blake’s 7 and Buckaroo Banzai primarily) fanzine. Art is by Holly Hutchison. And yes, the zine does contain a post “City at the Edge of the World” story. This is not for that story, it was obviously done just for the hell of it."