Archive of Our Own

Nothing came to put away your memories. It will never be as simple as that. The old pains will always linger in the space between the wall and its paper. The floor will always be littered with the regret of your unrealized dreams and aching memories. Your nightmares will continue to linger while you stumble around this crowded space, lost in the dark. You can't make sense of the clutter. Even if you found the light switch, you wouldn't even know where to start.

But you've put this off long enough. Nothing will come to empty your mind for you. You can choose which parts to keep and which ones to pack away in boxes. Keep them in the basement until the day you need them. Leave them labeled and neatly sorted. Sweep up all the dirt from the floor and the filth from the walls. Make this space something to be lived in. The smell of fresh flowers in a vase. A ghost that lingers but doesn't hurt nearly as much as she used to. You are here. You are home.

It will not be easy. It will take some doing. Perhaps it will even take some help. But I know you can do it. Even if you can only pick away at it, bit by bit, one day, you will be able to breathe. Then you can choose which parts of yourself to keep.

The series: An exploration of an AU where Harry Du Bois doesn't lose his memories.

It isn't as easy as that. There are no shortcuts to self-improvement. You cannot expect it be as easy as bludgeoning yourself into oblivion. Pick up the pieces of all of the mistakes that you've made. You will face the monster that you have become, and if you want to change, you will need to tame yourself. It will not be easy. It will be hard. It will feel impossible. But I am in your corner. Every sunset paves the way to the sunrise of a glorious morning.

A Toast to the Pigs: A thorough Martinaise retelling from the perspective of Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi. The unpredictable and violent nature of Harry Du Bois makes it difficult to know what to expect. Still, Harry Du Bois has killed three people over eighteen years. He is no greater threat to anybody than he is to himself. Kim doesn't suffer from any delusions that keeping the peace will be easy, but he'll be damned if he isn't caught dead trying.
[Incomplete]

Same Shit, Different Day: A post-Martinaise oneshot that's largely designed as a character exploration to get a better hold on Jean-Heron Vicquemare and his relationship with Harry. As it was written while A Toast to the Pigs was in development, aspects of this fic in chapters following its publication are subject to change.
[Complete]