Title: Carry Me Home
Author: signalbeam (fasterassembly on FF.net)
Rating: M
Genre: Romance / Drama
Status: Complete
Fandom: Persona 4
Pairings: Chie/Yukiko

Summary: AU: Yukiko runs away from Inaba after catching the murderer. Eight years later, Chie meets a familiar woman in the city. Three variations on a departure and a return.

Written for the prompt "Anon would like to see a post-game Yukiko/Chie fic in which Yukiko's S-Link never reached its turning-point and she never dared elaborate on her feelings for Chie. Yukiko has quietly left Inaba in pursuit of herself, leaving Chie behind."

Link: AO3 | FF.net
The structure is slightly different between the two; I think AO3 is easier to follow because it's split into chapters there, but YMMV.


This is a ~7k words long lesbian drama/romance oneshot or perhaps a three-in-one oneshot - it's got a prologue and an epilogue, and then three variations of the in-between. If that sounds repetitive, don't worry, it's not, and it's also far too short for that to even be an issue. It's not a happy story, really. It's about missed chances, a relationship that perhaps should have happened but didn't, about friends who don't understand each other was well as they think they do, about emotional scarring.

So why is this worth your time? Simply put, it's a punch to the gut. It's sad without being melodramatic, emotional without being overbearing, bitter without being "dark". The characters are human, grown-up but insecure. The prose is some of the best I've seen in fanfic - it's the opposite of flowery, there's weight in every sentence, and the text feels much longer than it actually is. Read it slowly. I guess some people could consider the structure a gimmick, but I think it works.

I could go on, but really, the fic is so short. If you aren't completely put off, just go check it out.

5/5.


Addendum: the author has written a lot of other oneshots as well, and everything I've read has been worth my time.