Just to briefly hop back to Sundown's fic - very satisfactory conclusion. Yes sir, I liked it
Now... Jack wanting to leave... I think there's perhaps one main reason why this concept resonates with so many people, and it's one Jack has actually explained pretty clearly. She's been exploited, used, abused and deceived for almost her entire living memory. She does not trust easily (if at all). Because of that, when someone came along that actually cared about her, she didn't realise it until it was too late and he was gone. If it wasn't bad enough that every promised honesty of others turn out to be lies, it ended up blinding her to someone that was genuine and all she could do then was mourn something she'd lost she'd never even known she'd had. Everyone that loves Jack, leaves her - either through the love not being genuine or through death. She finds herself in a position where someone begins to give her affection, treats her as an equal, respects her - she's going to expect life to take it away. And who wants to go through that? Pain like that reminds Jack of the reality that in some ways she is soft already; she feels. Better to just throw it away before it leaves yet another bleeding wound in her. Convince herself that she really does feel nothing but anger and hate. Love? That's for other people. Jack probably thinks she doesn't deserve it, or no-one would want to love her anyway. If everyone that "loves" Jack goes away, she'll just do it first - it keeps her in control, makes the choice hers, and allows her to paper over the reality that she is afraid of loss with a facade of not really giving a damn either way.
So, Shepard enters her life, and gives all that she could want. So the fear sets in; she tries to push him away with tales of how uncaring she is, then with the argument that a relationship will just harm Shepard (in itself betraying her feelings somewhat)... and if he persists, and she goes to him... what then? Can she just relax, be happy there in his arms? No... she's still afraid. Afraid that now she wants someone to stay, something is going to take them away from her. Jack will be looking around every corner for whatever is coming to take Shepard away from her. I mean, consider Shepard the man; he runs around the galaxy fighting bad guys... one of these days someone might get lucky and manage to off him. And let's not forget the Reapers - oh, yeah, monsters that eat entire species. Shepard is one man. Someday, he's going to go and leave Jack. Those anxieties are going to gnaw on her until one day she just thinks f*ck it, I can't stand feeling this way anymore - I'm outta here.
But, would she walk away and stay gone? That's the question... I think it says something for us as people that we seem so intent on sending Shep after her. We don't have her go back (which I think she probably would sooner or later), but we have him go find her (or just not let her go in the first place). I think it draws your average Jackolyte as someone that knows that love is a scary business; not some fairytale thing that goes straight from A to B. We know love hurts. We understand why you'd run from it. And deep down, I think we'd want someone to be able to rescue us from ourselves. We want someone to save Jack, too. Ohboy, does it show.
Hey, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. Plus, the pure emotional power of walking away to be pulled back (and to want to be pulled back so f*cking badly)... it makes for a much stronger emotional element for a writer than the happy-ever-after you'd get with Tali, or the friends-with-benefits feeling of a romance with Garrus or Miranda... only the promise of loss with Thane comes remotely close. Jack's loaded with pathos, gives us it with both barrels in all she does in-game, her romance should be the same. So, with that sentiment, I cue the music.
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