Dear r/blacklagoon
The Fan Fiction novel of Sweet Defense is now complete. And, if you've enjoyed the story, I'd like to offer a few ramblings about how and why I wrote it.
I was inspired to write a FanFiction story set in this universe by the complexity and dynamism of its characters. To me, the characters of Black Lagoon are damaged and unique. They are flawed in their own ways. The single biggest draw of the series to me is the possibility for personal improvement. I hope that Rock and Revy manage to work through their personal issues and find lasting happiness. It seems to me entirely possible that this could happen via romance. When I read the FanFiction work of Sweet Attack I became even more convinced.
The plot of Sweet Attack revolves around a civil war in Roanapur between Hotel Moscow and the Sun Yee On Triad. As Revy is a skilled gunfighter with deep ties to the Triad, Chang calls on her to fight for him. Previously, he'd sprung her from prison and trained her to dual-wield her guns, resulting in a debt that he can cash in on. Rock is upset by this and conspires with other major characters to bring Revy back to the Lagoon Company. He does this by blackmailing Chang and Balalaika into making peace and making him (Rock) their official arbiter of disputes. The two agree to go along with this partially because of cold capitalist logic (Rock promises them a more lucrative future) but also because the two are romantically involved with each other and they realize that an end to the fighting means a resumption of their affair.
Meanwhile, Rock has confessed to Revy that he loves her and while she never tells him that she feels the same, she does show him in her own way. She sleeps with him multiple times before the end of the war even though she has at least one other suitor. During the final confrontation in Chang's office she also steps between Rock and the barrel of Balalaika's gun.
All in all, I consider Sweet Attack to be one of the best pieces of Black Lagoon fan fiction I've ever read. However, it also has it's problems especially around it's ending.
At the end of Sweet Attack, Rock has successfully become the de facto kingpin of Roanapur and has survived in that role because Dutch and Revy have become Rock's bodyguards. Revy still sleeps with Rock every night. However, things are changing. Dutch has chosen to restart the Lagoon company and plans to offer Revy her job back. When Rock tells her about this Revy confesses that she hates being his bodyguard and wants to team up with Dutch again. To his credit Rock instantly agrees to this and Revy smiles with unbridled joy.
I give Rock full credit for being selfless with this final act, but I see a couple of problems.
First, I'm in no way convinced that Rock can physically survive in Roanapur without Dutch and Revy's help. We learn in chapter 14 of Sweet Attack that Rock has already survived one assassination attempt. That assassin was thankfully incompetent and easily killed by Lotton. However, we know that there are vastly better killers for hire in Roanapur than Lotton.
Second, I'm not convinced that Rock and Revy can survive as a couple. By chapter 14 of Sweet Attack Revy pointedly refuses to wear an appropriate dress to a wedding even though doing so is objectively the correct choice, and Rock is thinking about how he can manipulate her into doing so rather than straightforwardly explaining his logic. Clearly, this is a couple who badly need to work on their communication.
Both of these issues mean that everything that we've read over the previous 13 chapters could be rendered meaningless by the next page. Maybe Rock will be assassinated while Dutch and Revy are away and Roanapur plunged back into anarchy. Maybe Revy will fly into a rage at Rock over some misunderstanding and storm out of his life forever. If our main characters are going to achieve lasting happiness both of these problems have to be dealt with. I wrote Sweet Defense in order to deal with those problems.
In addressing the first problem, I had a few options. Rock and Revy must be physically secure in order to physically survive. To achieve this I chose to physically remove them from Roanapur. Rock still commutes there every day for work, but the city is more stable and secure by the end of my story due to the plot. In addition, he and Revy live in a highly secured office building and house that are difficult to attack due to a combination of security features and secrecy.
The second problem was more complex, and more satisfying to solve. Rock and Revy need to learn how to communicate better, so it seemed to me that one way this could be accomplished was through Rock learning more about Revy's past and treating the information responsibly.
By "responsibly" I mean he treats it seriously, compassionately, and intelligently.
In chapter 7 of Sweet Attack Revy tells Rock that, "You don't know shit about me, never have." Now, this is quite a declaration for Revy to make. After all, she and Rock had known each other for years by that point and have been through quite a bit together. He objectively knows a great deal about her. However, it is true that he does not know the two deepest, darkest facts about her.
These facts are:
1. The fact that she is a rape survivor
2. That she is a patricide.
In order for Revy to trust Rock entirely, he needs to learn these things about her and still want to be with her. So, how can this be accomplished?
I chose to give Rock the benefit of the doubt that he already has the emotional intelligence to be sympathic to a rape survivor without treating her as an object of pity. At the very least he seemed to be able to pull that off with the Romanian vampire twin in chapter 15 of the manga and episode 15 of the show. Still, in chapter 5 of my story I chose to crank that emotional intelligence to 11 out of 10. I gave Rock the full story of Revy's sexual assault and had him respond with as much compassion and sympathy as I could muster. That was the purpose of the chapter anyway.
The second fact, I knew, was going to be harder.
How can I get Rock to want to still be with Revy even after learning she murdered her father?
I'd like for everyone reading this passage right now to ask yourself the following:
If I learned my significant other murdered his or her parent, what would my reaction be?
Hopefully your response was, "run away as fast as I possibly can." At least, it should be.
Revy would certainly expect this reaction from Rock, and I would too if I were in her shoes.
Thus the problem is two-fold:
1. How does Rock find out about this fact since Revy is unlikely to tell him?
2. Why would he still be with her after finding out?
I chose to solve the first problem via blackmail. Revy doesn't want the truth about her father's death to get out, and Eda uses that against her. In the course of that plot, Rock is given a few clues and eventually gets the full story from Revy herself.
The second problem I chose to address by giving Rock extra tools.
Rock first learns that Revy was raped in chapter 5 of my story, and I'd argue he used that information responsibly. He does outside research. He reads testimonies by other rape survivors and aricles by therapists to get as much insight as possible. Unless you have been raped, you cannot know what it is like. But you can learn more about the emotional and mental consequences in order to be empathetic without being condescending. This is what Rock does.
By chapter 12, Rock has the extra perspective he needs. He understands the full context in which the death of Revy's father took place. He doesn't condone it, but he does offer Revy as close to absolution as possible.
"What I am saying is that I'm not going to pass any kind of moral judgment on the behavior of a fourteen year old abuse and rape survivor. I know too much about what abuse and rape can do to you now."
Rock still wants to stay with Revy despite her patricide because she was not thinking clearly when her father died. If this were a court, the jury would find her not guilty by reason of mental defect. And this isn't me making excuses for Revy. U.S. courts have recognized that the mental and emotional trauma of a sexual assault is a valid defense in criminal procedings.
Still, I decided to bind them closer together through that ever heartwarming mcguffin: a baby.
Revy cannot continue being a badass pirate gunslinger if she is pregnant. Being offered the captaincy of the Lagoon raises the stakes, but she still has to make a choice. She chooses to become the mother of Rock's child instead of the captain of the Lagoon because by chapter 13 of my story her relationship with Rock is simply more important to her.
"And I'll be damned," she looked down at the floor and spoke in a near whisper. "If I hurt her (the baby's) daddy (Rock) because I wanted more money."
A good redemption arc has three essential elements:
1. Stakes.
2. A character's view of themself.
3. The same character's view of the world.
These elements start out generally bad at the beginning of the story and change during its course to become good by the end.
As an example let's look at Darth Vader from Star Wars the original trilogy (Episodes IV to VI). In his case the redemption chart looks like this:
Beginning:
1. Stakes: wants power at any cost.
2. Views himself as morally irredeemable but very powerful.
3. Views the world as driven by power and those who wield it.
End:
1. Stakes: wants to save his son's life.
2. Views himself as a father.
3. Views the world as one where love and familial ties matter more than power.
I'm going to skip over the plot where these changes happen because we know the Star Wars story pretty well.
In Revy's case, the chart in my story looks like this:
Beginning:
1. Stakes: Wants money.
2. Views herself as a badass pirate who makes money and kills people.
3. Views of the world: "She believed that the end (of the world) had happened a long time ago and some sicko deity had forgotten to tell the rest of the world that it was over." - Sweet Attack Chapter 7
End:
1. Stakes: Wants a stable relationship with Rock and a good family for their baby.
2. Views herself: As Rock's wife and mother of his child.
3. Views of the world: World's good enough to bring a kid into.
This presented its own problem though. Even with her newfound connection with Rock via the whole "getting to know you" shtick I'm in no way convinced that Revy could be a good mother. As she herself states she barely had one for herself. Plus, domestic life doesn't really suit her.
In order to get her to the point where a happy family life is possible some changes are going to have to happen. Most immediately, she's going to have to quit booze and cigarettes. That's a tall order for anyone, but in Revy's case the change is going to be even more extreme. Therapy might help, but she has to want it and keep her appointments.
By allowing her to learn that for a brief period of time she had a mother who genuinely loved her, I believed she could reasonably be inspired to make the necessary lifestyle changes.
By the end, Revy and Rock are in a stable relationship together. They both love each other and invest enough into their relationship to make it work. Neither of them are at significant risk of instant death or of their relationship failing. So, I viewed my goal as accomplished.
Anyway, that's how and why I wrote this story. If anyone has any questions or comments you can let me know in the comments section of this post or on Reddit. My username is u/LeroyJ12
I'd like to thank u/Illicit_Action for beta-reading this piece. Please check out his stories A Hard Way to Fall and Cat's Game for more excellent Black Lagoon Fan Fiction content.
A special thanks to the exceptionally talented u/RevyLee44 for creating the cover art to this story. Follow her on twitter here for more excellent digital art. Thank you u/RevyLee44
Lastly, thank you to u/unkeptsecret for giving me permission to create this work. Secret, your story of Sweet Attack is what inspired me. Thank you.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. Your interest is what kept me writing.
Thank you!