Jumping on the bandwagon

A ton of people have already recced this story, but I'm going to do it too, because it deserves it. However, I am going to caveat it with the note that if you're not in an emotionally sturdy place right now, you may want to wait to read it until you're feeling more robust, because it will make emotional confetti of you even if you are in a good place to start with. It's poignant and piercing and both heart-breaking and heart-healing at the same time. Seriously, this is one of the best pieces of fanfiction I have ever read. In fact, file the serial numbers off it and you have a truly superb piece of original storytelling. It's self-contained enough, with such good characterization, that I don't think you need to be a fan of Stargate: Atlantis to read it, to understand it, or to enjoy it. The story is Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose by Synecdochic and you can find it on the author's lj or on her website.