Have you ever heard of My Immortal? The fic's notorious in many ways, but if I ever liveblog that one, it will be as a separate liveblog.
But I digress, as it isn't the one being liveblogged this time. My Immortal is to goths and Harry Potter what this fic is to emo and Arthur.
Arthur, now 14, is in his room listening to "The Ghost Of You" by MCR, which plays in between the story narration, and is proof that NCH!Arthur and Ebony have similar tastes in music. (Incidentally, while writing this, I listened to "Decretum," Sayaka's theme from ''Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Arthur's sad over Buster moving to Japan with his family (moving is the easiest way for a child character to get Put on a Bus, and among the most contrived). Buster had promised to write, but never got around to it, causing Arthur to assume that he's having too much fun and is too busy to "give a shit about (Arthur)", resulting in Arthur "going EMO." Apparently, this means assuming the worst about your friends, playing up your own problems, and dressing the part.
A flashback begins, in bold text and in the same paragraph as Arthur complaining about Brain not keeping his promise. One of my biggest pet peeves in fan fiction is people creating big walls of text without inserting paragraphs. It's not the worst mistake, but it's one of the most obvious and easiest to fix, so it's annoying when people don't do so. This fic actually is better about avoiding walls of text than some are, but the author doesn't have much of a grasp of making paragraphs.
But enough about that. Arthur has his mom take him to Hot Topic. She complains about "dark and scary clothes" but relents after Arthur says that he has no one to turn to now. D.W. laughs at Arthur, prompting him to tell her to "shut the fuck up."
The story returns to the present, noting that two months later, things haven't gotten any better for Arthur. He doesn't want to integrate into any of the cliques, and he's lost touch with his old friends- Muffy's a slut, Francine's a lesbian, Binky's a stoner, Brain's a proud nerd, and they're all stereotypes.
But what about George? Cue another flashback, all in bold.
Arthur and Buster are "still tight," but are worried about George, who's going through "tough shit" at home. His parents divorced, with his father marrying a 22-year-old, his mother becoming "a raging alcoholic" and neither caring much for George. This is one of those divorces in which neither parent looks very good, but they're rarely as over-the-top bad as George's parents.
George then writes a suicide note, complaining about no one appreciating his jokes. He despairs at his teachers giving up on him, because he's dyslexic, like Albert Einstein. Apparently, no one thought that he might need help, or noticed that he's not learning the same way that the other kids are, because he's repeating third grade for the fifth time.
George concludes that his friends never truly cared, suggesting that they're all off in their own little worlds (while suicide is often meant as a cry for help, he could at least have tried to talk to them first). He then mentions that he's getting close to the bridge, which, combined with the disjointedness, lends an oddly "stream of consciousness" quality to his note. He then declares that he's going to jump now, and says "See You in Hell, motherfuckers!" before jumping to his death.
The suicide note and flashback end, and before long, the MCR song does, as well. Arthur decides that he can't take it anymore, even though his troubles only amount to losing touch with his old friends. Arthur finds his dad's sharpest knife, "a blade that can pierce steel", and takes it to his room.
Arthur slits his wrists, which hurts but gives Arthur a kind of high, (the author says cutting releases endorphins and cites House as the source for this; while using a fictional TV show as a source is not a good idea, does anyone who's seen it know about what the author cited, and whether it's accurate/?). Arthur isn't much for cutting, though, and instead composes a poem similar to the part of George's note directed at his friends before stabbing himself in the throat, ending the fic.
The fic has a good amount of Canon Defilement, Character Derailment and Wangst. It's always somewhat amusing to see how far people are willing to derail the works for which they produce fan fiction, especially when they're based on works for children.
The Bechdel Test: Fails it. There's two female characters, but while they're in the same scene, they don't seem to talk to each other.
