Otter's Rock

Countless Roads (231868 words) by nirejseki, robininthelabyrinth
Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart
Characters: Pretty much everybody from The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, DEADFIC, Very Long Fic, Canonical Child Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, not a slow burn
Summary: Due to a family curse (which some call a gift), Leonard Snart has more life than he knows what to do with – and that gives him the ability to see, speak to, and even share with the various ghosts that are always surrounding him.

Sure, said curse also means he’s going to die sooner rather than later, just like his mother, but in the meantime Len has no intention of letting superheroes, time travelers, a surprisingly charming pyromaniac, and a lot of ghosts get in the way of him having a nice, successful career as a professional thief.

My rec: I spotted this yesterday in a rec from lannamichaels who was especially happy about the excellent Jewish representation in this story, how it's not just a few trappings of Judaism, but guided and shaped by Jewish thought.  Well, they're one of my favorite writers and I trust their artistic judgment, not to mention I when something is held up as a good example of representation I check it out.  I saw it was 230k words long, but it was still a few hours before bedtime and I figured I could read for a few hours and then go to bed and read the rest the next day.

I stayed up until 5AM reading it because I COULD NOT STOP READING, HOLY COW IS THAT AN INCREDIBLY AWESOME FIC.  The character voices are spot on, it fixes ALL OF THE STUPID in those shows, the central plot device is a unique twist on "can talk to ghosts," and despite the fact that it is 230k words long there are no spots where it drags or feels padded or bloated in any way.  I was laughing and crying and on the edge of my seat the whole time, it was seriously one of the absolute best fics I've read in years, you have to go read it.

ETA: And now I've been reading my way through nirejseki's works on AO3, and wow, I am loving them, you should go read them too.

Barry: gets powers: minor angst about danger, then: Awesome, new superhero!

Wally: gets powers: minor angst about danger, then: Awesome, new superhero!

Cisco: gets powers just like his evil twin from the alternate Earth: Awesome, new superhero!

Caitlynn: gets powers just like her evil twin from the alternate Earth: FUCK NO, POWERS MAKE YOU EVIL!

NOBODY else among the main characters has had a personality change due to their powers.  Nobody.  They are the same person, just faster/more psychic.  Why is it that the GIRL--the only female major character to get superpowers--is going to go psycho if she uses her powers?  We have spent SO MUCH TIME this season angsting about how POWER MAKES HER EVIL, SO SHE BETTER SUPPRESS HER POWER!  AND SHE CAN'T DO IT BY HERSELF, SHE NEEDS THE GUYS TO SUPPRESS HER POWER!

This show generally does a decent job with women, so this is such a slap in the face.