History Fanfic / TheSunWillComeUpAndTheSeasonsWillChange

* TheShrink: [[spoiler: Mary starts seeing one at Todd's suggestion after she returns home, to help her heal from Dana's abuse. Mary is hesitant at first, fearing that the therapist would be like Dr. Goldman, but she turns out to be a nice woman who knows what autism is actually like. Mary's sessions with her help her heal from Dana's abuse and help her with the other changes in her life, too]].

* TheShrink [[spoiler: Mary starts seeing one at Todd's suggestion after she returns home, to help her heal from Dana's abuse. Mary is hesitant at first, fearing that the therapist would be like Dr. Goldman, but she turns out to be a nice woman who knows what autism is actually like. Mary's sessions with her help her heal from Dana's abuse and help her with the other changes in her life, too]].

* FinaleTitleDrop: [[spoiler: In the closing scene of the story, Lianna asks Mary to read the short story she had published in an anthology as an award for winning a short story contest out loud to the guest at her birthday party. After agreeing Mary introduces her story to the InUniverse audience by first stating the title: " And The Seasons Will Change"]].

* TitleDrop: [[spoiler: In the closing scene of the story, Lianna asks Mary to read the short story she had published in an anthology out loud to the guest at her birthday party, she agrees. Mary introduces her story by first stating the title: "The Sun Will Come Up And The Seasons Will Change".]]

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: When Julius and Mary have a chance encounter with each other at a park and after having a conversation about how both of them were affected by Nora, they start bonding over their shared interests, exchange phone numbers, and then Mary invites Julius as a plus-one to Nora's birthday party. While Caitlin does make a joke about Julius being Mary's "secret boyfriend" and Mary does find herself being physically attracted to him, whether or not their friendship will remain platonic or blossom into a romantic relationship is up in the air]].

** Dr. Goldman [[spoiler: ends up on the Infinity Train when he tries to go on the run to escape malpractice lawsuits from several of his former and current victims, and the first thing that happens to him when he awakens is that he's attacked and pinned down by Nora, who refuses to hear his pleas for mercy just like he refused to show mercy to so many of his victims. Given the fact that he proves himself a DirtyCoward by running away as soon as Mary and Vic save him, it's unlikely he'll be able to get off the train anytime soon. Also, it'll very likely get shut down without him around, and since his phone was stolen by Nora, he's no longer able to share any of his harmful views about autism with anybody anymore.]]

* AnAesop:
** PerfectionIsImpossible, especially from children, and it's cruel to force people to conform to your definition and standards of perfection.
** Your children deserve all of the care and support in the world, especially if they have special needs that need to be reasonably accommodated in order for them to be successful in life.
** Don't succumb to people who abused you in the past and accept help from those who want to truly help you stand up to your abuser. If Dana hadn't caved into Irene's demands and sought approval from her, as well as sought therapy to come to terms with her abusive childhood and accept the help of those who stood up to Irene, she could've been a better person who didn't alienate everyone who could have possibly wanted to help her and not abused Mary. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: Mary's CharacterDevelopment involves her learning to stand up to ableist characters in her life, accepting the kindness and care of those who truly love her, and being done with seeking Dana's nonexistent approval]].
** There's nothing inherently wrong with being autistic. Just because you are autistic, doesn't mean you can't have a meaningful life.
** Sharing private information about autistic people to the public and making life-altering decisions for them without the autistic person's consent is not only morally reprehensible, but a violation of their autonomy. Autistic people have just as much a right to privacy and their bodily autonomy as anyone else, and if you share intimate details about them on the internet without their input, you're not only putting their future in jeopardy, you're contributing to their stigmatization.
** An individual is only responsible for their own actions, decisions, and their consequences, and should never put the blame on others. Mary comes to realize that her being autistic and her general existence didn't ruin Dana's life or make her do all that she did, and Dana realizes that her own crusade to cure Mary damaged her relationships with her family rather than Mary herself. Nora kept trying to blame others for her own destructive actions rather than admit responsibility, and her refusal to take accountability [[spoiler:resulted in her SpitefulSuicide.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Despite Nora's monstrous behavior and violent tendencies (trying to ''[[WouldHurtAChild kill]]'' Mary several times), Mary, Blanca, and Vic are all horrified when she allows herself to fall onto the train tracks and [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath be crushed to death]] by the wheels. Part of the pain Mary feels comes from knowing that the [=McDonald=] family may never know what happened to Nora.]]

** Dr. Goldman [[spoiler: ends up on the Infinity Train, and the first thing that happens to him when he awakens is that he's attacked and pinned down by Nora, who refuses to hear his pleas for mercy just like he refused to show mercy to so many of his victims. Given the fact that he proves himself a DirtyCoward by running away as soon as Mary and Vic save him, it's unlikely he'll be able to get off the train anytime soon. Also, considering a news report about his disappearance reveals that his former victims are fighting back against his practice, it'll likely get shut down without him around, and since his phone was left behind in the Infinity Train, he's no longer able to share any of his harmful views about autism with anybody anymore.]]

* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: Greg is a bully who finds joy in Mary's disappearance and hopes that she got killed. His mother, Edith, on the other hand, is a nice woman who approaches Todd with information about the abuse she saw Dana do to Mary on a school field trip two years ago and apologizes on behalf of her son's behavior in case either of those two things had anything to do with why Mary ran away.

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:When the two of them are dangling over the train tracks, Mary tries one last time to reach out to Nora. She refuses to take responsibility for any of her actions, claiming that she's "free" as she let's go of Mary's hand and falls to her death.]]

* HardTruthAesop: If somebody can't love you and accept you for who you are, they're not worth your time even if they are a family member, and trying to gain their approval will only make you miserable. It's best to be with family and friends who care about you and cut ties with those who hurt you, especially if the people who wronged you don't plan to make things right. If Dana hadn't caved into Irene's demands and sought approval from her, as well as sought therapy to come to terms with her abusive childhood and accept the help of those who stood up to Irene, she could've been a better person who didn't alienate everyone who could have possibly wanted to help her and not abused Mary. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: Mary's CharacterDevelopment involves her learning to stand up to ableist characters in her life, accepting the kindness and care of those who truly love her, and being done with seeking the nonexistent approval of anybody who doesn't value her]]. Blanca perfectly sums it up in Chapter 19:
--> '''Blanca''': Kindness is an irreplaceable virtue to have, but showing it to people who have only ever been cruel towards you will only be a detriment to you rather than a boon. You shouldn't feel obligated to extend a helping hand to someone who will only repay it with hatred and cruelty.

** Don't succumb to people that abused you in the past and accept help from those who want to truly help you stand up to your abuser. If Dana hadn't caved into Irene's demands and sought approval from her, as well as sought therapy to come to terms with her abusive childhood and accept the help of those who stood up to Irene, she could've been a better person who didn't alienate everyone who could have possibly wanted to help her and not abused Mary. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: Mary's CharacterDevelopment involves her learning to stand up to ableist characters in her life, accepting the kindness and care of those who truly love her, and being done with seeking Dana's nonexistent approval]].

* GenerationalTrauma: The main conflict stems from generational trauma and abuse. Mary, the main protagonist, is abused by her mother Dana for being autistic. Dana was abused for years by Irene, her hyper-controlling misogynistic mother, for not wanting to be a perfect {{housewife}} à la TheFifties. Dana refuses to get help from the trauma of her abusive mother and ends up ruining several things in her life, including her relationship with the rest of her family.

* HardTruthAesop: If somebody can't love you and accept you for who you are, they're not worth your time even if they are a family member, and trying to gain their approval will only make you miserable. It's best to be with family and friends who care about you and cut ties with those who hurt you, especially if the people who wronged you don't plan to make things right. Blanca perfectly sums it up in Chapter 19:
--> '''Blanca''': Kindness is an irreplacable virtue to have, but showing it to people who have only ever been cruel towards you will only be a detriment to you rather than a boon. You shouldn't feel obligated to extend a helping hand to someone who will only repay it with hatred and cruelty.

** As part of her HeelRealization above, Dana realizes that she was the one destroying her family, not Mary.

** Greg insists that Mary is given special treatment despite the fact that he gets himself into trouble by acting like a bully. Later, when Mary disappears, he laughs about it and expresses hope that Mary is dead. Subverted in that it's revealed he was trying to emulate a video game character's personality and acted like a {{Jerkass}} because he thought he could impress his friends. But when Mr. Bryant explains that people in real life would find a person like that intolerable, linking it to his treatment of Mary, Greg feels remorseful when he realizes the full gravity of the situation.

** Dana [[spoiler: ends up alienating herself from her family and everybody else who would want to help her or have anything to do with her for her abuse of Mary and her refusal to even take responsibility for her actions or actually learn true facts about autism. This results in her leaving town with the misery she had built up for herself over the years and her former husband and ex-daughters much happier without her]].

* ABirthdayNotABreak: Around Mary's seventh birthday, Dana is needlessly cruel to Mary (only buying a gift if Mary promises to stop being autistic).

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Despite Nora's monstrous behavior and violent tendencies (trying to ''[[WouldHurtAChild kill]]'' Mary several times), Mary, Blanca, and Vic are all horrified when she allows herself to fall onto the train tracks and [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath be crushed to death]] by the wheels. Part of the pain Mary feels comes from knowing that the [=McDonald=] family may never know what happened to Nora.]]
* AllegoricalCharacter: Dana Summers represents how toxic those Autism Warrior Parents can be. At her best which is not often, Dana treats her youngest daughter Mary Summers, who is autistic, like a baby that can't think for herself. At her worst, she's utterly abusive to her daughter and obsessed with making her normal and curing her daughter's autism. While Dana ultimately thinks she's in the right of her treatment of her daughter, everyone around her, including her husband Todd and eldest daughter Reagan, sees that her behavior is unacceptable, and while Dana may complain about her daughter acting out, she is the one making a scene. Things come to a head when Todd and Reagan read Dana's blog and discover to their horror, how much she hates Mary, that not only does Dana not miss Mary when she ran away, but she also considered [[spoiler: forcibly sterilizing Mary once she turns 18.]] According to the story's author, Dana is based on parents of autistic children who have written memoirs on how much of a burden it was to raise their children and how they don't respect their children.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Vic the hamster is not very well-liked among his hamster kin, because he's much more blunt, brave, and genuinely interested in exploring life outside the Hamster Car, whereas the rest of the hamsters are easily frightened and can't fathom why he would want to study beings that almost destroyed their home.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParent: Dana treats Mary like a baby, insisting on buying her a picture book meant for toddlers and saying the book her daughter wanted seemed too advanced for her. And that's when she's in a ''good mood'' with Mary.

* InsistentTerminology: The weather conditions when Nora locks Julius out of the house are always described as "negative two degree weather" or the simpler "negative two degrees," and nothing but.

* {{Fingore}}: Chapter 19 reveals that when Nora was confronted over locking her brother out of the house in negative two degree weather, she tries to make a break for her room, with her father chasing after her, and she slammed the door on his hand, breaking several of his fingers.

** Dana runs on this, believing the worst of Mary despite the fact that the truth is literally in front of her and everybody calling her out on it.

* ADayInTheLimeLight:
** Part of Chapter 17 focuses on Greg and his journey to becoming TheAtoner.
** Chapters 18 and 19 showcase Nora’s backstory and her descent into TheBully.

* DrugsAreBad: Nora drinks, smokes cigarettes, and snorts cocaine ([[spoiler:Chapter 21 reveals that she threatened a talking castle—implied to be Morgan—to produce even more drugs for her when she ran out of her current drug supply)]]. Her drug use is used as another symptom of her downward spiral, and she spends Chapter 22 [[spoiler: hallucinating Mary as her brother Julius.]]
** Mary even comments that she's seen many anti-drug [[PublicServiceAnnouncement PSAs]] and watches movies that feature "alcoholic fathers who beat [their children] and wives."

* TakeThat: The fic has absolutely no qualms about taking the piss out on organizations like Autism Speaks, Autism Warrior Parent memoirs, and snake oil therapies that claim to cure autism.

** Dr. Jacob Goldman has only been seen in flashbacks, but he has become one of of the most despicable characters in the story. Feeding Dana's fears of Mary being uncontrollable due to her autism? Check. Taking a barely cursory examination of Mary to insist she should be put on a sedative? Check. Responding to a two-year-old Mary attempting to ask for some water by smacking the cup from her hand and screaming at her until she cried? '''Triple''' check!

** [[spoiler: Irene is also unmentioned, leaving it unclear if she had died, left town trying to track down Dana again, or if she’s still in Pittsburgh. The Summers appear to have no relationship or interest in one with her, considering what a {{Jerkass}} she is.]]

** Don't succumb to people that abused you in the past and accept help from those who want to truly help you stand up to your abuser. If Dana hadn't caved into Irene's demands and sought approval from her, as well as sought therapy to come to terms with her abusive childhood and accept the help of those who stood up to Irene, she could've been a better person and not abused Mary. Meanwhile, [[spoiler: Mary’s CharacterDevelopment involves her learning to stand up to ableist characters in her life, accepting the kindness and care of those who truly love her, and being done with seeking Dana’s nonexistent approval]].

* CassandraTruth: {{Defied|Trope}}; [[spoiler: Mary knows nobody would believe her about the Infinity Train, so she doesn’t even bother trying to tell anybody about it. Instead, she claims that after running away, she survived out in the woods, met Nora and lived in the hut the latter had created for a while, [[MetaphoricallyTrue and then Nora had tried to kill her after finding out that she was autistic]]. She also told the police what she knew about Nora’s neo-Nazi ideals and her ties with Xander, but didn’t tell them about her SpitefulSuicide as she thought her body would have remained stuck in the Infinity Train’s realm. The story does come under scrutiny between the lack of physical evidence that Mary was at the hut and nobody being able to figure out Nora’s cause of death after her body was returned to Earth. However, as there was no evidence ''disproving'' Mary’s testimony and since Nora’s memories gave Mary details about the hut that she would only have known if she had actually seen it, the police decide to just close the cases on Mary and Nora’s disappearances.]]

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler: Because of Nora’s SpitefulSuicide in the penultimate chapter, Brooke and Harley end up losing their daughter without having a body to bury or even being able to know what exactly happened since Mary knows nobody would believe her about the Infinity Train unless they experienced it themselves. This is one of the reasons why Mary cries about Nora’s death]].

** The end of Chapter 16 conforms that Nora ran away from home. [[spoiler: She did something to her little brother and coldly deletes texts that her mother sends her, begging to come home or at least talk.]]

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler: Because of Nora’s SpitefulSuicide in the penultimate chapter, Brooke and Harley end up losing their daughter without having a body to bury or even being able to know what exactly happened since Mary knows nobody would believe her about the Infinity Train unless they experienced it themselves. This is one of the reasons why Mary cries about Nora’s death]].

** Some of the items Vic buys in the Black Slug car help him, Mary, and Blanca view Mary’s memories in Chapter 12.

* {{Fingore}}: Chapter 19 reveals that when Nora was confronted over locking her brother out of the house in two degree weather, she tries to make a break for her room, with her father chasing after her, and she slammed the door on his hand, breaking several of his fingers.

** The TimeSkip starts with Mary mentioning she wrote a ''VideoGame/JackJeanne'' fan fic, and later reveals she owns two pit bulls named [[Manga/TheCaseStudyOfVanitas Noe and Vanitas.]]