Black Magic White Lies, chapter 20

[moscow_watcher]

Turns out, I'm leaving for Prague this Sunday (a friend just called and told me that our visas are finally ready). I won't be able to post the last chapter Monday, so I post it today.

Title: Black Magic White Lies
Chapter 20 - The Finale
Timeline: BtVS, alternate season 5
Genre: drama, mystery, action
Characters, pairing: general, Xander/Faith

Comments

[keith5by5]

Yay, go Xander and Willow.

Swing and a win for you two! :D

Great F\X story, thanks for that Moscow.

[moscow_watcher]

Yay! I'm glad you liked the story. I tried hard to give all the characters their dues without turning them into Mary-Sues. I was afraid that the ending would look boyscout-ish - hopefully it's not the case. Thanks for your comments - it was very revealing to read the opinions of a fan who looks at the show from a different angle.

[keith5by5]

Well you used the same sort of method to end the show as the writers did, in that the normal human (in this case Harris) did for the normal part of Glory.

As for the different angle, I concentrated on the chars I loved (Giles, Xander, Faith). :D

One thing I wish you had shown more was Faith's insecurities of being a mother. I think she'd make a great one, but she'd be terrified of being her own mom. Just a thought.

Anyway, have fun on your trip.

[moscow_watcher]

One thing I wish you had shown more was Faith's insecurities of being a mother. I think she'd make a great one, but she'd be terrified of being her own mom. Just a thought.

I think about it, as I work on the sequel. The problem is that I want to work it out within the genre structure, i.e. to come up with a plot twist that would work as a metaphor of Faith's overprotectiveness.

Anyway, have fun on your trip.

Thank you!

[waddis]

Very exciting climax. Very chaotic, with insecurities and strengths dug up and thrown all around. Also, early!

[moscow_watcher]

Thank you! Poor Xan, it's hard to be a protagonist. A lot of bad stuff happens, and he always is in the middle of everything.

And now, when I finished with posting, I can run off to read the new chapter of "Jack Sparrow" :)

[moscow_watcher]

I can't wait to read the sequal! Xander dealing with killing someone, now that's very interesting.

I have a writer's block at a particular scene - it's tricky, so I'd better e-mail you.

And - thank *you* for helping me. Have you noticed that I dropped the line we were arguing about? About "adult"? You were absolutely right. It wasn't a Xander line. It was a writer's comment, an overexplanation. When I reread the text yesterday, I realized that you were right all along.

*smoochies*

[mulder200]

Holy crap! Just like in S6, Xander saved the world and without the aid of any special skills or powers. Of course, I imagine he's going to feel guilty as hell despite doing the right thing.

It's weird. One one hand, this feels so anticlimactic but on the other hand it works beautifully. Sometimes, the simple solution is the best one.

[moscow_watcher]

so anticlimactic

It's because I suck at writing big action pieces. :)

Seriously, I wanted Xander to experience what it's like - to be in Buffy's shoes, or in Faith's shoes. He hadn't killed anybody during the 7-year run of the show; he had never experienced terrible moral dilemmas other characters had.

I was curious to explore how he could act in an extreme situation. How could he act in a situation where you can't just stay unblemished? "Kill or be killed" kind of situation?

So, his journey into adulthood is heroic, and torturous, and full of faux pas - but there is hope that he and Faith and Dawn will eventually be okay.

[mulder200]

Seriously, I wanted Xander to experience what it's like - to be in Buffy's shoes, or in Faith's shoes. He hadn't killed anybody during the 7-year run of the show; he had never experienced terrible moral dilemmas other characters had.

That's a very good point. It does seem rather odd when you think about it. Of course, we can always blame it on lazy writers.

I was curious to explore how he could act in an extreme situation. How could he act in a situation where you can't just stay unblemished? "Kill or be killed" kind of situation?

I think you handled his reactions beautifully. I imagine that this is going to come back and haunt him eventually. Wow! Now he, Buffy & Faith all have one thing in common now.

[moscow_watcher]

It does seem rather odd when you think about it. Of course, we can always blame it on lazy writers.

Maybe they just wanted to to have an oasis of sanity within the show where characters faced insane situations every Tuesday. :) Anyway, the first attempt to explore Xander's dark potential ("The Pack") was very impressive. Hyena!Xander was creepy.

But Joss has never gone in this direction. Although he toyed with the idea, it wasn't a Xander!Xander he had in mind. There were rumors that, be season 5 the last one, Xander would have been Glory's human host. And during season 7 Joss initially wanted to kill Xander and make him the face of The First Evil. Hard to say how it could have panned out. It could be brilliant; it could be awful.

I think you handled his reactions beautifully.

Thank you! I tried hard to put myself into his shoes.

I imagine that this is going to come back and haunt him eventually.

Oh, it will haunt him a lot - if I manage to finish the sequel... :)

[moscow_watcher]

I hope we don't have to wait long for the sequel!

I have the outline, and I wrote a couple of chapters. But I never post a fic before I finish a rough draft. Because when I write a climax, I never can make ends meet without tweaking little details in the first chapters. My planning abilities are sucky.