Fanfic / Keystone

Keystone is a Red vs. Blue fanfiction explaining the backstory of Leonard and Allison Church's romance from childhood to present day, starting from the day fourteen years old Leonard and his father Lawrence are moving in a new place and Allison is their very troubled neighbour.

This story contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Multiple examples.
  • Allison's parents.
    • Her mother's boyfriend abused Allison when she was twelve.
    • Turns out, her mother was aware and didn't do anything to stop him.
  • Leonard's mother, Neira, who often lashed out due to severe mental illness.
  • Leonard himself towards Carolina/Valerie
  • Mahala's mother is overly strict and doesn't approve of her friendships and relationships.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Carolina/Valerie is already familiar with AI and is the one who creates FILSS
• Adaptational Personality Change: In this story, the Allison's AI is not obtained by splitting the Alpha (at first), but through the military data. She doesn't act like Agent Texas, rather speaks in a cold and professional way.
• Afraid of Doctors: Leonard holds contempt for mental health professionals, including Aiden Price although he will later work with him.
• Anti-Nepotism: Lawrence has Leonard help him in the office, but is adamant on not displaying any favoritism. Years later, Leonard has Carolina/Valerie join his work to help him during the summer but treats her coldly.
• Awkward First Sleepover: When Carolina/Valerie comes to her friend Mahala's house and they have their first kiss.
• Backstory Horror: Allison's childhood.
• Benevolent Boss: Leonard's mentor on the job, Stephen.
• Berserk Button: Smoking weed when Allison is present will anger her greatly. It reminds her of her mother's abusive partner.
• Big "NO!": Leonard in several occasions, namely when the officials come in to tell him about Allison's death, at the Cemetery and when the AI is lost.
• Broken Bird: Allison.
• Commitment Issues: Allison, given her history.
• Call-Forward: The final exchange during Leonard's break up with Caitlin Suh
  Caitlin: Goodbye, Leonard Church. I hope I never hear your name again.
  Leonard: Goodbye, Caitlin Suh. YOU WILL!
• Control Freak: Leonard, as pointed out by his assistant Jackie. His obsession with control, often in an I Work Alone way, impacts the quality of his work and the work of his employees.
• Descent into Addiction: Leonard becomes addicted to working on Allison's AI form in order to bring her back.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Leonard has moments of this during his teenage years, before his relationship with Allison becomes more stable.
• Entitled Bastard: Leonard towards his own father, expecting him to always take care of things for him and to take him in his house multiple times when he's well into adulthood. Can be an Ungrateful Bastard at times.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Leonard thinks Allison's blond hair is one of her most attractive features.
• Financial Abuse: Allison steals money from Leonard and he hides it from her.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Leonard's torture of Allison's AI and abusive behaviour towards Valerie are not justifiable.
• Go-Getter Girl: Jackie and Carolina/Valerie.
• Guilt Complex: Leonard but due to his Hair-Trigger Temper he only makes it worse, hence Why We Can't Have Nice Things.
• Hope Is Scary: Allison feels this way about her and Leonard's romance.
• Insecure Love Interest: Both Leonard and Allison fall under this, the former because he thinks he's not enough for his partner and the latter because she is used to abusive relationships and has developed commitment issues.
• Lawful Pushover: Caitlin when it comes to to the project she's working on with Leonard.
• Love Martyr: Everyone, but most prominently Caitlin.
• Dad's Off Fighting in the War: Allison, who then becomes the Missing Mom.
• Nervous Wreck: Caitlin during the anniversary dinner scene.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Played with. At first Leonard gets away with snapping at Allison when she confessed she cheated. But as he finds out through the AI that she was raped, he is going to regret it forever.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the overly demure and submissive Caitlin decides to take courage and dump Leonard.
• Plagued by Nightmares: Leonard after losing Allison.
• Pre-Insanity Reveal: The whole story, arguably, as Leonard has already lost his last marble by the time he shows up in canon.
• Pungeon Master: Leonard's father, Lawrence, with dad jokes and puns.
• Samaritan Syndrome: Caitlin, again. It takes her years before she eventually gives up on Leonard.
• Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Carolina/Valerie and Mahala learn to lie to their parents in order to hang out together and pursue their romance...Until Mahala's mom finds out.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Leonard has Lawrence's eyes but is mostly more similar to his mother Neira, including being prone to severe mental illness which made her dangerous for herself and others. He definitely did Turn Out Like His Mother.
• Spoiled Brat: Leonard has moments of this despite always being very hardworking because of the way he acts towards his father (see Entiled Bastard above).
• Theory Tunnelvision: Leonard believes he can turn the AI into the real Allison despite being presented with evidence that he can't.
• The Alcoholic: Leonard starts showing signs of this in early adulthood already, and progressively gets worse after he loses Allison. Also drinks heavily after his break up with Caitlin to the point that he gets sick and his daughter has to help him.
• The Lost Lenore: Allison after her passing.
• The Scrooge: Allison sees Leonard as this.
• Token Houseguest: Allison, at first.
• Too Much Alike: The fact that both Allison and Leonard have aggressive personalities, even with different mindsets, is what causes most arguments overall.
• Trapped with the Therapy Session: Dinner, for most of them. Either Lawrence witnesses problems between Allison and Leonard, or Allison witnesses problems between Leonard and Lawrence. Years later, it's the tension between Leonard, Valerie and Caitlin.
• Troubled, but Cute: Allison as a teenager in the first few chapters, being that mysterious girl from a broken home.
• "Well Done, Dad!" Guy: Lawrence, by doing everything and anything for his son, but is never met with gratitude. Leonard himself has moments of this while wanting to involve Valerie in his own work but he disregards her aspirations in doing so.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Carolina/Valerie.
• When It All Began: The whole story, starting with the first meeting between Allison and Leonard in chapter 1.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: Leonard stops paying attention to his and his father's Jewish traditions. In turn Carolina/Valerie decides to try to get closer to them.