That which does not kill me...

The ENSLAVED AU (chains_of_grace) was dreamed up in all its heartbreaking glory by brings_to_light-mun), and after some tweaking of timelines and events and character, and with the collaboration of guriel-mun, I felt comfortable inserting Ben into it. It's gotten big enough to deserve its own activity log.

( And under a cut, because, dude. )

The takemy_love/Firefly Arc:

So, you know. Werewolves escaped Earth-that-was along with the rest of humanity. That's a given. Why not? After all, most of them were hiding among people, living their lives, paying their bills.

A hundred years before the Unification War, the Alliance had a pogrom:

Capture all werewolves. Put them in cages. Experiment.

Of course, Ben Lockwood was caught up in that. Intimately involved, as it were.

But Ben Lockwood has never been one to take such a thing lying down. When they broke into his apartment and killed his wife of four hundred years with no warning whatsoever...

Well. The gloves kind of come off after something like that. And you do not want to tangle with someone who has 400 years of combat experience, even if he is still on a cane. Because all you will do is underestimate him, and then be surprised when he hands your ass to you.

There are two timelines to this 'verse: The Werewolf Pogrom, and After the Unification War.
The posts (in chronological rather than actual order):

The Werewolf Pogrom
The Alliance is rounding up werewolves, and Janni is killed.
Ben sets up an ambush for the Alliance soldiers who killed Janni. And proceeds to scare himself and Guri.
They talk about Ben's Wrath Issues.
Ben tries to pray. Ain't too successful. They catch a tramp freighter to Shadow.
Mackey kills a whole shipload of people to get to Ben
They mount a rescue operation, walk into an ambush, and are captured themselves.
Mackey's got Ben chained up, and Ben has a decision to make.
They get to where Alex is and go for a run.
Janie finds him covered in blood.
Ben wonders if he's a lost sheep or a wolf among lambs.
Mackey and Pierce are trying to draw Ben out, and he gives himself to them in exchange for freedom for the other werewolves.
Ben doesn't like either the "murderer" or "martyr" option. Guri is horrified by his choice. Ben's not happy either.
Aftermath.
Ben tries to talk to God. Who doesn't answer.
They visit Raz and Simon and go for a run.
Ben has a talk with Raz and breaks down.
Another talk with Raz, wherein he decides that wolfing for a couple of weeks is a good idea.
Hecate tells him he needs to convince his subconscious that he doesn't need to relive that every night.
A rather pensive conversation with the Prince of Sloth
A conversation with the Doctor. And the Master.
A talk with Robin Goodfellow bucks him up, oddly enough.
Simon tells him to talk to Dad God.
Ben's feeling better about things...
Until Shaitan grabs him.
Simon is frantic, and Julie offers to help.
Using the sigil to try to track Ben down goes disastrously wrong.
Three weeks later, they finally find him. Shattered.
Simon's brooding about how his Fallen brothers are assholes, and finds out the bartender is hiding from both Lu and Dad.
He tells Julie all about it.
He and Raz decide that all they can do is pray and hold their little brothers up to Dad.
Belial finds Ben suffering from withdrawal and sort of taunts him.
He talks to Julie, while Pal looks on suspiciously.
Guri does his best to help. And it does.
Ben feels better physically, anyway. Raz makes him stew and puts him to bed.
Ben wonders if God will go for a trifecta, but finally gets an answer to a prayer.
He finally gets Looked At by an Archangel, but why should Uriel be any different?
Repunzel, Smokey, and Kronk pay him a visit while he's watching the sheep.
He discusses buying a bison ranch with Raz.
Maybe he can give a time-traveling Bruce Banner a hand?
Janie offers him a hand if he ever needs one.
He buys a bison herd. And it's immediately possessed by demons.
Liwya offers comfort while he's praying in the park.
Raphael makes an appearance and heals what he can.
Ben resolves to get back up again.
Bruce hopes he's kidding about eating chipmunks.

Ben and Elle Woods have been captured by the Alliance.
Drinking with her in the aftermath

After the Unification War
An encounter with someone who thinks grenades are overkill. Pft.
They've turned Serenity Valley into a park. Ben throws up a little in his mouth.
They book passage on the Serenity.
Risa finds him after he's been shot by a mugger.
Janni's penguin is glowing.
He has a talk with a Companion.
And then a date with her.
Pondering past choices with Siobhan, a cute empath
Inara cleans him up after he tangles with a nasty demon
Dinner with Siobhan
It's Janni's birthday, and he's outside Siobhan's ship with a plush penguin, wolfed
Wolfed with a plush penguin in Inara's shuttle
Siobhan is caring for an old, dying cat.
She doesn't think she belongs to God. Ben reacts badly, which makes her sad.
Simon tries to explain Ben's "thinking" to her.
Ben talks to Guri about it and realizes he's being dumb.
So he goes back to her, plant and chocolates in hand, to see if he can salvage it, encountering Lester on the way.
Ben meets Siobhan's father, which could have gone both better and worse.
A conversation with Siobhan's friend Furby.
He talks to Lester again.
Cleaning the shuttle with Guri.
Siobhan takes him to a special place to cheer him up when he's having a bad day.
He plants one of those flowers at Janni's gravesite, which he's turned into a garden
A conversation with Lester about evil and lines.
Ben and Guri turn a corner of Janni's garden into a sanctuary for Fallen who are looking for some peace.
A demon comes after Siobhan -- and Ben has to bite her to save her life, while Guri gets Lester out of there.
Ben worries about MacMorris's reaction with Furby, Lester, Guri, and a demon...
With good reason, it turns out, as MacMorris reacts badly. And sadly.
Siobhan wolfs for the first time, Ben proposes and they get rings.
Ben meets Siobhan's brother Leon, and they take a mutual liking to each other.
Leon's in trouble, and Siobhan's not happy about it.
Ben finds out that Siobhan bit Lester. This complicates matters.
Siobhan reflects on the fact that she's Lester's mom, in every way that counts. Ben, fortunately, doesn't mind.
Leon got shot, and Siobhan is swearing about it.
MacMorris is still having a hard time with it all.
Ben asks Guri to officiate at the wedding and for Lester to be their ringbearer.
And he and Siobhan set an actual date.
Plans continue apace.
Siobhan gets to work on the flowers.
And Lester killed a guy by looking at him? Good times.
Lester's not killing people anymore. But the "cure" is blinding him, so, no.
Getting married, everyone's freaking

River's got a gun.
Dr. Tam doesn't want to pull that thing out of Ben's chest.

Simon takes Paladin to the park and talks with three archangels (Sariel, Gabriel, and Michael), among other people. Mike tells him he should take up his "Kemahiel" moniker again. And he goes Christmas shopping with Jaf.

Ben's having nightmares. Again. Simon gets on Santa's Nice List and lets Robin know he's back. He tests out his new old Name, decides that "Kemi" fits him better, and finds out that Raz still wants to call him "Simon." And he's okay with that.

Ben garners a new missing-kid case, which goes about as well as they always do.

That...could have been a whole lot worse than it was.

I had a nightmare last night that I didn't stop when Guriel told me to. Woke Janni up muttering "I'm sorry" over and over again. Then had to tell her I was sorry for, you know, waking her up after what she'd been through. She just wrapped around me and kissed my hair and told me to quit being silly. Like she does.

I so do not deserve either of them.

Lord, thank You, so very much, for sending the people into my life that You have. Help me be a better person...

Oh, and letting Guriel talk again would be ace.

Thank You and amen.

I envision pie in Guriel's future. Janni's baking, and she sent me out for ice cream.