"Heartache Without End" is the official ship name (and, by extension, plot name) of a 1x1 RP between Jillian
and Lindsey. The plot focuses on Joanne, a shy bookstore owner, and Eva, an extroverted interior designer. The two are unusually drawn to each other, and as they continue to grow closer, they discover that they both have strange, shared memories of events that never happened. It turns out that they are simply the most recent incarnation of a pair of souls, cursed to find each other, fall in love ... and then die horribly. And as the first two things come to fruition, the two become desperate to stop the third ...
As the plot follows Joanne and Eva's story, it also explores many of their past lives. Jillian plays "J" (Joanne and all of her past lives) on this blog, and Lindsey plays "E" (Eva and her past lives) on this blog. Also has a character page.
Heartache Without End contains examples of
- Anachronic Order: Played with. Joanne and Eva's tale is told chronologically, but their past lives are not. Instead, scenes from various past lives are picked due to their similarity to the a scene in Joanne and Eva's life, and are told concurrently.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Many of the pairs get this. Special mention goes to Jordan and Elias, who die after a long, painful illness, but we also have Jo, who spends days in her mansion with Effie's dead body before overdosing, or Evan, who watches Joanna bleed out from a neck wound, helpless to stop her death because of his own injuries.
- Curse: The impetus for the plot, an angry witch curses a king and queen's unborn son and the woman he will fall in love with, whose souls are then reincarnated again and again.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Despite the fact that most pairs die together, this is fairly rare — some don't know it's coming or don't want to admit it. However, Joseph's last words to Elizabeth are "I love you."
- Fate Drives Us Together: It's actually more the curse than fate, but for the couples, it certainly feels like this. This is especially apparent in Eva and Joanne's narrative, since we see them chronologically.
- Love at First Sight: Played with. Joe believes that he fell in love with Evangeline at first sight, but only because he doesn't even have any friendships to compare what he's feeling to. The other pairs have varying degrees of attraction to each other at first sight, but you can't call it love.
- Magic Is Evil: An angry witch is what caused the curse in the first place. One of the reincarnated pairs are also hung for being witches, although this accusation is false.
- Meaningful Echo: Happens all the time, as Joanne and Eva unknowingly echo things that happened in their past lives.
- Opposites Attract: All of the pairs have this to some degree. E's soul is naturally more outgoing and adventurous, while J's soul is much more reserved and hesitant. There are also often other differences between the pairs, as well.
- Reincarnation Romance: Although in this case it's a curse, rather than a good thing, as they are fated to die soon after falling in love.
- Salem Is Witch Country: An odd subversion of this trope. While witches do in fact exist in this universe, the trials seem to be just as paranoid and pointless as before, with no actual witches being accused or killed.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: E and J are this for each other, again and again.
