BEGIN TRANSMISSION
DECRYPTION CODE YGPNTNCT
--CLASSIFIED--
INTRODUCTION
Sooooo...What did people think? We're curious. As usual, the rest of this contains spoilers up the wazoo, so scoot if you don't wanna be spoiled.
The Betrayals Arc is the most complicated piece of the story yet, and definitely the one with the strongest edge of sci-fi to it. It will get worse, though, before it gets better. This section took a long time to put together, but I think the quality speaks for itself.
Much better than Act One, ne? We go back and read that and flinch- both of us want to rewrite it, but...well, we haven't found the time. Ger is particularly ashamed of the Relena sections, and me - well, I'd rewrite everything I did then. Someday.
Oh, by the way- the last section of this (the beginning of Quat's trial and Une's scene) were written as I listened to Winter by Tori Amos on constant replay. Don't ask why...But it definitely influenced me...
HOW WE'RE WORKING
I'm still the primary plot writer...Darn it. Anyway, Ger handles the nitty-gritty, and has been going back to check to make sure we haven't dropped TOO many plots. Some of them WERE intentionally dropped. We're trying to avoid the "cheesy" factor some of our earlier scenes had.
As we delve deeper into the story, we find SNK turning more and more into a true sci fi/cyberpunk/mecha/political story and away from the softer aspects that most GW fandom author focus on. It wasn't EXACTLY intentional, and I'll make no apology for it. I rather like the road we're taking.
This act has had a lot of role play and set up. Ger and I have directed the characters according to their personalities, rather then convenience. Sometimes we'll sit down and figure out how a particular person will react to an event- and sometimes this requires us to rearrange the characters. For example, Quatre had to meet Darkflight before he saw Heero after Lilah died. Or Seki- Ger originally wrote him being killed but then we figured that he'd have a contingency plan- men like him don't leave their bases uncovered.
I've been focusing on the political struggle, Ilene's death, and getting the characters situated for the final act, which will be quite surprising. I've also been working quite a bit on Sally and laying the groundwork for her betrayal. Ger worked on the return of Trowa, Heero's transformation, Li, and Atsuki's death. Basically, if the last Arc was Ger's, this one was mine. The next Arc, should be a mixture- I have some stuff written already, as does Ger, but it'll be a while before we update, seeing as how Ger is leaving, and this is a convenient place to take our sabbatical.
WHERE THE CHARACTERS ARE FROM ACT 7 TO ACT 9
Yes, I still think they're all nuts.
Heero Yuy/Wing
Heero finally makes the decision- is he Heero Yuy or is he Wing? Despite what he says about Heero being dead, when the cards are down, he goes looking for Relena first, rather than Atsuki. He is Heero Yuy, and his actions result in Atsuki's death. Repercussions- every action has an equal an opposite reaction.
Poor Heero.
In the beginning of Act VI, Hilde asks Duo, "It's about Heero, then?"
To which Duo answers, "It's always been about Heero."
This is one of the keys that Gerald and I have agreed on- while GW had an ensemble cast, the story is about Heero. The final arc, while I have previously said will be focus more on Sally, will be ABOUT Heero. Thus, the "Rebirth." The other characters are important, but none shine quite the way he does.
Heero can look forward to some serious problems, dealing with Darkflight, getting Quatre's forgiveness, and completing the road back to himself.
And let's not forget about Relena.
Relena Darlian Peacecraft
Speaking of Relena...
Relena has spent this act disappointing people, and being disappointed by them. She disappoints Chris by showing, yes, she is a human being who can change her mind, and she is disappointed both in Zechs, Heero, and the world around her.
Still, she comes back pretty well.
Duo Maxwell
"The war is over- now it's time for the killing to stop."
Another decisive line from the Deathscythe pilot. He's the first to really recognize his, and for him, of all people to say this, shows a transformation. While I don't see him joining Relena's pacifistic party, I do see him doing what he can to work towards peace.
In the beginning Duo tried hiding from the consequences of his actions, pretend that he's normal, and Hilde helps him. But he finds out he can't do this.
Ilene's death is another turning point. Duo has realized that he'll never be normal. No matter where he goes, his ghosts will follow him, sometimes at the expense of those he loves.
Hilde Schbeiker
Hilde manages to shake the Zero system pretty well. Still, her vision was important...she saw Duo being betrayed by someone he trusted, and he DID trust Sally. All the pilots did. But will it result in the destruction of the world? Who knows?
She's still Duo's support...that's really about all I have to say for her.
Trowa Barton
Trowa comes back with a BOOM.
Ger took over writing him officially, as I finally admitted I couldn't understand him well enough. Ger's version of Trowa is very different from mine, but probably more interesting. His emotionally stunted nature is played up to the hilt. Ger will talk more about him.
Catherine Bloom
Catherine inadvertently saves Trowa's life.
I think that's her key action...also, she's grown beyond the circus performer we see in Act I. She's started to think globally, and the repercussions of her actions will be felt. She's the "every woman" of the piece, and he influence with Relena is not to be underestimated.
I think Catherine is finally started to realize that Trowa is not her exclusive property.
Quatre Raberba Winner
Finally the trial starts, at long last.
Where will it go? To be honest, I have no clue. Ger and I are still debating possible outcomes, with the help from our imouto Lyra Stormrider. I'm going to be borrowing heavily from the Nuremberg trials to give it an aura of authenticity.
Anyway, in this act we start seeing Quatre's strength. We particularly see it in the side Mirage (my fav Quatre piece to date- he's downright chilling at places), and we see him begin to interact with the pilots again. He hasn't seen Heero yet, and that's probably a good thing. He's rather upset over the whole Atsuki mess.
Quatre is the hardest pilot to get a grip on sometimes, for me, and writing his sections is very draining.
Dorothy Catalonia
Dorothy got rid of Emily.
We saw it coming, didn't we?
This Arc Dorothy has spent reconstructing herself into a woman she can respect. She had a good, hard look at herself, and wasn't able to like the person she had become. A moping, lovesick girl is not the Dorothy Catalonia (ever notice how she seems obsessed with her full name?) we've grown to know.
Having failed on the battlefield, Dorothy has had to select another place to fight- and this time, she's going to win. She seems to be forming an alliance with Relena and Sylvia, and her high-handed tactics at Preventers on the day of the attack show us the Dorothy of old.
God, I love her. I really can't wait till the last Arc...
And has anyone noticed how Dorothy gets all the really cool lines?
Chang Wufei
I liked Wufei in this Act. The side Heroes is absolutely wonderful- "No one sent me. But I'm here to help." Is a line that I think described the pilots' philosophy perfectly.
I think Wufei has become the leader of the pilots, or will be, seeing as how Heero still isn't together, no one in their right mind would listen to Duo, Trowa isn't leadership material, and Quatre is rather occupied at the moment. Part of it is that he's reverted (slightly) back to the scholar he once was, and seems to have gained a little bit of the patience and peace that I tend to associate with the intellectuals. His scene with Quatre brought that out, and his support of Heero. I really would love to see him meet Duo again- but that'll be soon enough. Hopefully he won't strangle the braided baka on sight.
Sally Po
Sally- a traitor?
Yes.
And no.
In the series, it's never really pointed out, but Sally abandons the remains of the Federation to become a rebel soldier to defend China. It's a logical extension for her to become Sainan no Kekka's "villain." Still, Ger and I subscribe to the philosophy that there are no villains in GW- or at least very few. Just differing points of view.
I don't want to get too in depth with Sally's reasons for doing what she did (I'll save that for the story and my next Mission Log), but I will say that Lopez is a smart cookie and pretty accurate- not entirely, but very close.
Sally has been our designated villain since Act II, and it's been a struggle to write her. I haven't really taken a walk in her head yet, and most of her scenes cover her thoughts very superficially. The places where it seems like she's soul-searching can be taken two ways - I advise all readers who want to get a better grasp on her to go back and reread the Sally scenes, and they'll see some of the other hints I've been dropping all along.
As Heero has been Ger's project, Sally has been mine. It's been fun turning her on her head- I've never seen a fic where she HASN'T been on the pilots' side.
The only piece Ger has written for Sally, Legacy, was written because I made him. He's Chinese, so he understands the culture a little bit better than I do. I think it's one of the stand-outs, and it'll definitely help readers come to terms with where our Sally is coming from. The final Act, will focus more on Sally.
Milliard Peacecraft/Zechs Merquise
Zechs is back. The facade of Milliard Peacecraft is discarded.
Without Noin, he's lost the anchor in his reality, but he's finally made the decision who he is. For a while it looked like he was going to go whacko, but instead he goes and digs out Epyon and...
Wait, I think he DID go whacko.
Now what is he going to DO with Epyon?
Anyway, Zechs has become isolated from the other plots, but expect him to be back...with a vengeance.
Lucrezia Noin
Still dead.
Lady Une
Lady Une is still one of my favorites.
She's getting a raw deal, and fighting it.
Very little about her character changes during these acts- she just keeps getting the bad news loaded on her. The final act with her denying Sally's betrayal will be another key- she and Sally weren't close, but Une trusted her.
Sylvia Noventa
Enter Sylvia!
People like her, although she's given an amazingly miniscule role in the series- too bad. She's a perfect foil to Relena- they even look similar. Heero is her devil to Relena's angel. It's a fascinating comparison that too few fanfic writers look at. The only fanfic writer I can remember using her extensively is Ashura in "Niobe's Violets," but that was an AU, and Sylvia isn't portrayed accurately because of that. Not to blame Ashura- it's a wonderful fanfic, but we're comparing apples to oranges.
In SNK, Sylvia has grown to take her family seat in the World Nation, representing the still-powerful Noventa family. Due to Emily's marriage, she's even related to Dorothy, which adds another interesting aspect. SNK has many things happen in threes. Now that Noin is dead, Sylvia has replaced her as the final member of the Trio. These powerful women- Sylvia, Dorothy, and Relena- are going to shake things up, and instead of working against each other, will be able to collaborate and bring about wonderful things. The focus of the feminine Trio has shifted from the love of a man (Milliard) to the love of man and protecting the world they all live in. Sylvia symbolizes this wonderfully well- she is a pacifist who, unlike Noin, had the strength to put aside the gun.
ORIGINAL CHARACTERS
Darkflight
Have you read the essay on Operation Meteor?
If you haven't, I suggest you do.
It's kinda funny - In a way, Darkflight is related to Heero.
I get a headache thinking about it...
Atsuki/Lilah Winner
Atsuki returned to the bosom of her family, only to find the death with didn't happen on the streets. Irony at its best. I think Ger will cover it more in depth, but her depth is the catalyst for tension between Quatre and Heero.
Enrico Lopez
Our golden boy who sees everything, he has an eidetic memory, and he'll be one of the few Une can rely on in the next Arc. I like the contrast between him and the other Preventers. If he and Carrington ever get to work together (it'd be nice, but I'm not sure I'll have the room for it to happen), they'd make a dynamic team.
Lopez is one of the innocents who is still left- he still believes in the goodness at the soul of humanity, and has yet to be tainted by "the real world." No matter how many times you ask him, the glass will always be half full. He's an interesting man, but hard to write- writing a character who is more intelligent than you are is tiring!
Sarah Carrington
Carrington was the surprising character of the act for me. I've been sitting in front of the TV watching war documentaries, and PTSD kept coming up- it must have sunk in, because all the sudden she's telling Une why she's at a desk job rather in the field. It surprised me that this character who was almost a caricature and comic relief suddenly became much more dimensional. Of course, this means I have a side story in process for her.
I do like her- Carrington is very much an incarnation of one of the aspects of my personality. She was originally created as a throwaway character, but like Shinobu, her role has grown. I find her interesting- and her PTSD definitely helps me understand why she listened to Quatre during the attack, rather than taking control herself, seeing as she was the ranking officer.
Christopher Johnsen
Chris gets a raw deal- he finds out that his idea of pacifism isn't quiet as realistic as he hoped, Queen Relena is human, and he gets dumped by his girlfriend for one of his close friends.
Poor Chris.
Of the Cliffside Heights groups, Chris represented the pacifistic ideal, and his wounding was both symbolic and ironic. Pacifism is not a practical philosophy to take in the middle of a firefight; he learns this the hard way.
Ilene Keets
What to say about my sweet Ilene?
Ilene...did go crazy, but she certainly didn't deserve to be killed. Or did she? Would she have killed Duo? I'll leave that up to the reader's interpretations.
Ilene is another character who fascinated me, yet I knew that she was going to die since around Act IV. The guilt Duo feels due to her death is tremendous, but Ilene had made her bed, and she had to lie in it, even if it meant laying in her grave.
I think Ilene snaps because she's been lied to once too often. I seem to remember a film where people started yelling, "I'm NOT going to take it anymore!" This was Ilene's version - she always did everything by extremes. Then again, she was a teenager, and to her, the world was black and white- there's no room for any shades of gray.
Matsuura Shinobu/Seki Takeru
Shin just keeps getting more and more complicated.
We knew that he and Darkflight wouldn't get along- it didn't take much brains to see that one coming. His relationship with Helena was the surprise to me- Ger decided he wanted it, and I went along with it, even though it hadn't been in my plans. To my surprise, I liked it. Shinobu is a man, whereas Chris is a boy.
Shinobu's relationship with Seki was interesting to me as well- especially when Ger took over writing it! I can't wait to see what happens to L1...what, you think we're going to abandon it? After taking all that time developing it?
Helena Rosenbaum
Helena has matured remarkably throughout the entire Arc. The human heart changes as we undergo trauma. People tend to fall in love under stressful situations, and relationships fall apart. Her relationship with Chris was a child's love, that of youth. It would have lasted, had they never been put through this trial, and had their differences never been stressed so drastically.
But it happened.
Shinobu and Helena's love is more mature- they know each other a little bit better, and are aware that the world isn't a rosy place. They experience real passion, and yes, their love could endure.
But will it? Ah, there's the rub. They're from different worlds, and that's going to be hard for them to overcome. But if they want to (and I think they do), they will.
Li Chun Tian
Li is an interesting woman, and I'm looking forward to getting control of her back- I created her, but Ger was the one who she really spoke to. Now that Seki is dead, though, I should be having more to do with her.
Li is the idol of our piece, a flawless woman who tests her limits to see what they are.
ABOUT THE BETRAYALS ARC
The Betrayals Arc is named this for several reasons. There are MANY Betrayals here, but the key one is Sally. I've already covered Sally, so I'll list a few more.
There's the betrayal of the relationship of Helena and Chris. There's Seki's betrayal by his own family. There's the perceived betrayal of the Preventers by the people they're trying to protect. There's Ilene and Duo - Trowa betrays Catherine's belief in him always doing the right thing by killing Ilene.
And then we reach the internal betrayals. Heero betrays himself. Quatre betrays himself, but finds redemption. Does Sally betray herself? I don't think so...but we'll see her motivations later on.
In Gundam Wing, there is no character who is truly "evil" and that's the approach that we've taken with SNK. Everyone has a motivation, and while some may be less "pure" then others, there is a method to most madness.
And please note- Heavyarms is still "missing"...
WHERE WE'RE GOING
Nine down. Four to Go. I am EXCITED. We're on the downward slope.
Many of the plots have become concrete, and many of the characters have told us QUITE firmly where they will end up. Trowa. Zechs. Dorothy. Heero. Sally. Some of them, though, still remain somewhat unclear. Une. Quatre. Perhaps Duo. Catherine. But Une most of all. The rest of them have some clue, but Une could have many endings...
Next up is the Rebirth arc- I wanted to name it the Renaissance Arc, but Ger wouldn't go for that- I don't remember exactly why, but...Anyway, this is the final ARC, and it will contact three acts- the last act will be an epilogue act. Anyway, look for the requisite Gundam battle, the Zero system, more political tangles then you can shake a stick at, and since Ger is one of the co-writers, angst, angst, angst. DON'T be looking for a happy ending - GW simply doesn't lend itself to that - but perhaps an equilibrium can be reached, one that's more comfortable than the previous one? Who know?
Well, Ger and I have SOME idea, but that would be telling!
--CLASSIFIED--
ENCRYPTION CODE YGPNTNCT
END TRANSMISSION
Back to Sainan no Kekka: the Betrayals Arc