“Beg to Differ”, 4/4

[aadler]

 

Final installment.

(Part 3 here)

---

epilogue

The rest of the story is already known, but only those parts of the story that remain. The testing ground was wiped away, and Will and Allie ceased to exist even in memory. Their lives had been vivid, if abbreviated, but now were banished to the realm of never-had-been. Even so, three consequences of their brief span lingered, after that span had been consigned to the vast unknown.

First and most obviously, the dark warrior received the reward promised him, and found the price to be, indeed, steep beyond his expectation. He returned to the Valley of the Sun, and found his lost love and lost her all over again, and fought his last battle — only to discover it wasn’t the last after all — and went on to severely annoy many people for quite some time to come.

Second, the white knight who had so long condemned himself for his abandonment of the woman who loved him, found that he had reached an unexpected peace with himself. In some way he couldn’t quite understand, it was as if he had paid a penance, set the scales level, and shown that he could, in fact, commit his heart without reservation. This made no sense to him, but he accepted it and put it to beneficial use.

(He also found himself with a new, intuitive understanding of the mysteries of the female orgasm, an awareness that would subsequently move more than one grateful woman to rapturous astonishment; but of this, more need not be said.)

Third, least significant but much noted: months after the forgotten trial, a puzzled young woman would exclaim in exasperation, “Is there anyone here that hasn’t slept together?”; and two men with long memory of (and ample reason for) hating one another, would find their eyes meeting in a furtive, quizzical glance, and then jerking quickly away.

They might — if they allowed themselves to think of it at all — wonder why they had done that.

But they would never know.

– end –

[ A supplementary drabble for this story can be seen HERE. ]
 

---

And there you are. Don’t hesitate to offer commentary.

End Notes

Comments

So, you write Spander?

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Well, isn't that a bait and switch?

Hard to believe I'm chuckling at the end of this one.

Re: So, you write Spander?

[aadler]

And that’s the only way I ever would do Spander.

On the other hand, your post has made me wonder if I should have actually titled the story “Bait and Switch”.

Re: So, you write Spander?

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

That would make some sense. with Gutrick being more or less bait.

Re: So, you write Spander?

[(Anonymous)]

"Bait and Switch" is SUCH a good title for this.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

How much do I love you right now? Seriously.

I didn't get around to reading the sneak peak, and only just saw today that you had posted this. Maaaaaaan, smile on my face over here. Awesomely done and fabulously well-written as always.

Plus, a unique concept that makes me go jealous on you. As always. :-P

Wow!

[aadler]

I’m glad you enjoyed it. I was truly sorry I couldn’t get your opinion on how well I managed character voice, but I’d say nwhepcat and bellatemple probably covered that ground well enough.

I just read your pimp-rec for this story in your own space, and I was floored. I absolutely don’t know what to say. If I saw superlatives of that kind used about yahtzee63, or nwhepcat, or even something of yours (such as “History of Humor in the 20th Century”), I’d understand and agree; but for someone of your deserved reputation to speak so of me is hugely gratifying and just slightly spooky.

But thanks anyhow.

[camperx.livejournal.com]

Loved it! This is officially the first Spander fic that I've ever finished.

I twigged to the fact that it was a dreamscape the moment Spike's new name was mentioned - Rupert's son, William Randall (AKA "Randy") Giles.

In other words, I started to figure some of it out about two and a third seconds before you explained it to me. *snort* Yay. go me.

All joking aside, this was a great read. Oh, no... I just realized that now I have [i]another[/i] author I have to check regularly for updates. Damn you.

[aadler]

Happy to have you aboard, and glad to have elicited your approval. The use of “William Randall Giles” was specifically intended to make people sit up and say, “Whoa! What’s happening here?”, so your welcome praise also tells me I accomplished what I was trying to do. I like that.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

That was exceptional. You had me guessing all the way through. The idea of Spike and Xander sharing a soul is intensely intriguing.

Looking back there are some seriously wonderful touches. Randy Giles for humor. Faith being the one going in to kill Allie for pathos. The appearance of Roger Wyndam-Price to get the old hate juices flowing properly.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

[aadler]

I loved this story, but then I love all my stories. It’s a weakness of mine. That’s why I welcome external commentary, it gives me a perspective besides my own.

“Guessing all the way through.” Well, thanks. I really worried that Will would be too readily identifiable, from the beginning, as some version of Spike. I cherish my surprises, and worry about telegraphing them. It’s reassuring to be told I didn’t do that.

I was happy to turn out this story, and I’m more than happy with the response to it.

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous. :) Wonderful.

[aadler]

I’m grateful. Truly.

[learnedhand-dj.livejournal.com]

While I enjoyed the entire story, the thing I think I liked the most was it explained that look between Spike and Xander, which has always bothered me. I love stories that take canon things that bug me and give them a backstory that makes it all okay.

[aadler]

I’m like you, the “look” between Xander and Spike annoyed me mightily. It was a wonderfully comic moment … but done for its own sake, rather then being justified by anything in series history or placed to enable further developments. It was just there, a cutesy by the writers for no reason except to get a laugh, only its nature called for an explanation that was never offered. I didn’t write the story strictly to provide a reason, but I was happy that the story offered the opportunity for a reason to be given.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Here on liz_marcs rec.

Although I did enjoy this story a lot, and was impressed by many things about your writing, I was bitterly disappointed at the ending. I'm afrad that I see it more as a cop-out than as a bait-and-switch, and I would greatly have preferred the story had it really been a true original character fic. I would have called the story superb but as far as I'm concerned the ending downgraded it to merely very good.

[aadler]

I’m sorry it didn’t please you. I’ve seen your name before, and while I don’t recall precisely where, I know I have you categorized as ‘one of those people to pay attention to’. Probably firmly within my intended target audience.

Most people find purely-OC fics to be somewhat annoying, and I understand the sentiment; if I read fanfic, it’s because I enjoy that world and want to see more of it, which generally includes the familiar characters. Did we perhaps get to liking Will and Allie so much that we hated to see them consigned to nonexistence? I felt some of that, and I knew what was coming. That was just what the story was, so that’s where I went.

I’m glad you still rank it among the very good, even though you were disappointed by the last twist. Some things have a price, and my failing to satisfy you was part of the price for the story choices I made. Maybe I can hit nearer the target next time out.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

Did we perhaps get to liking Will and Allie so much that we hated to see them consigned to nonexistence?

Exactly. I was totally engrossed in the story, the characters had really caught my imagination and I was desperate to find out what happened next - and then bang! they disappeared in a puff of smoke. I felt cheated. It was as if you'd announced at that point "I'm leaving the fandom and will never finish the story", or perhaps even worse. You did too good a job of creating them - they were more interesting than Spike and Xander.

Most people find purely-OC fics to be somewhat annoying

Those people won't read this story anyway - they'll dismiss this as an OC fic - unless they're told the twist before they read it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Didn't quite see that one coming. Not sure that I wouldn't have preferred it to be OCs, rather than a figment of magic / Spike's imagination, but it's fine as it is.

[aadler]

That’s more or less what speakr2customrs said, so most of my answer to him will apply to your observation. However, I didn’t really see it as having been a “figment”: within the dreamscape arena, Spike and Xander — though filtered through masking personalities — had to make real choices, and their choices had real results.

[naol.livejournal.com]

I never thought I could love a Spike/Xander fic. You proved me wrong. Don't know if I should be thanking you for writing this or seeking extensive therapy.

... Thank you for writing this *grins*

[aadler]

And thank you for saying so. Enjoy it; this is certain to be the only Spike/Xander (or, probably, Spike/anybody) I ever do.

[poshcat.livejournal.com]

This was a terrific story - too many good lines to mention them all, but here's one:

This was a janitor’s closet, stocked with brooms and mop buckets and paper towels and cleaning supplies — including some that should never be stored together, you’d think the bloody Germans, at least, could keep such things straight!

Funny, moving, exciting as hell. And did I mention hot? You're an excellent writer, and I have to tell you that if this were a novel I'd picked up at the local bookstore, I'd have definitely felt I got my money's worth - and hoped you'd be writing a sequel, too. :0)

[aadler]

I keep trying to find new ways of saying thanks; the old ‘redundancy’ bugaboo. It doesn’t work. Thanks.

The funny thing is, I wasn’t even planning to do this story. I had several ideas lined up, and the schedule on which I wanted to do them. This one popped up out of nowhere, and I dutifully noted it down and filed it away … and it kept insisting it wanted to be told now. It even shoved aside the one I explicitly intended to do next. Then took hold of me and showed me a rollicking good time, plus called forth somewhat more response than I’ve ever gotten elsewhere.

I took a quick look at your flist, and didn’t see any of the people who explicitly recced me. What brought this story to your attention?

Again, thank you.

[poshcat.livejournal.com]

You could tell me you loved me. That would be a new way to say "thanks". Hee. :0P

Aha! It was alice23kate who recced you, but it was a friends locked post. She possibly came across your story at su_herald or it was recced by Lz_marcs, she can't quite remember. She said your story was very good...and she was right!

PS Hey, are you a guy? You're the first male fanfic writer I've come across. ::shakes your hand::

[aadler]

Thanks for providing the source, though I’m not familiar with the person you named; I just like to know these things.

And, yes, definitely a guy here. There really are quite a few of us, we just tend to be overwhelmed by the preponderance of female authors around us. I believe there were over 300 attendees at WriterCon 2004, of which perhaps a dozen (perhaps half that number) bore a Y chromosome. Could have been intimidating, if everyone there hadn’t been so nice.

Again, thanks.

[gail19.livejournal.com]

You are a wonderfully sick and evil person. And I can't wait to read more of your stuff.

[aadler]

Not evil. None of those things were ever proven. Not officially.