dragonbat2006

For my initial assignment, I wrote a fic in the Dark is Rising fandom. The series ended in the early 80s and my recipient suggested showing something with Will present-day. About 5 years back, I'd written something for this fandom, also present-day, in which I'd envisioned Will working at the Buckingham County Museum. While what I wrote for this Yuletide wasn't meant as a sequel, the career choice still made sense (and this fic isn't incompatible with the first one, but it stands perfectly well on its own).

My first step was to reread the canon. Somewhere in the middle of the second book, I started writing about Will's life in 2015. I still didn't know precisely where I was going with it. What I did know was that my regular beta was going in for hip-replacement surgery at the end of November and I wanted her to have the fic finished so that she could either look at it before the procedure or while recuperating. So, I started thinking about how, as an immortal, he probably wasn't going to raise a family of his own that he'd outlive—but he was canonically part of large family himself. So he'd be everyone's favorite uncle, the emergency babysitter, the dependable one, but the one everyone assumed had to be sad and lonely, even though he was so much a part of everyone's life.

In Book 3, things started to click. When the series ends, the Light had vanquished the Dark 'once and for all'. Merriman, the wizard/mentor has moved on, but Will is left behind to serve as 'the watchman'. But if, as canon states, the Dark will never rise again... what was Will supposed to be watching for? In Book 3, we're introduced to the Wild Magic. That would work.

Will is the "7th son of a 7th son". This is significant. I figured that if two of the other characters started early enough, they could, by 2015, have at least 7 sons, and their 7th could have 7 sons of his own.(I did give them daughters, too.) The pairing choice was fairly easy.

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back/Three from the Circle, Three from the Track

Of the three from the Circle, Merriman was gone (and since he's several centuries old in the books and the sole female member of the Six is around 10 or 11... DNW). Will wasn't in a relationship. That left Bran.

The three from the Track are siblings, two boys and a girl. I wasn't going to write incest.

Bran/Jane it was! They're roughly the same age in canon.

I did some calculations. If, at the age of 16, Jane became pregnant with Bran's child... Bran was raised by a conservative father, very church-oriented. However, he once sheltered a pregnant woman in his home, no questions asked, and when she abandoned her infant son with him, he raised the boy as his own, even knowing the gossip had the baby as his own son born out of wedlock. It occurred to me that, confronted with Bran and Jane's situation, he might not be pleased, but he would be supportive. He would—at the very least—demand that his son live up to his responsibilities. And he would support the two getting married. Some 45 years later, they're still together, still very much in love.

And, in 2015, Will Googles Bran's name on a lark (they lost touch around 40 years ago), finds out that Bran's father passed away only a day or so earlier, and decides it might be time to reconnect. Especially when he sees the list of surviving family and realizes that among them is a "7th son of a 7th son, scion to the Circle and the Track..."


I also did a pinch-hit in the Daredevil fandom. This one was in the first round of pinch-hits after the Dec 13th deadline. Recipient wanted to see some interaction between the canonical loves in Matt's life. She'd listed three, but her letter absolved me of having to use all 3. Thankfully. I didn't see a way to work Elektra in. But as for Karen and Kirsten...

I wasn't comfortable writing time-travel, and since Karen dies in canon long before we ever meet Kirsten, I went Silver Age (with tweak). Karen's position got an upgrade. She was a secretary when originally introduced, but when Marvel updated its backstories in the Season One hardcover graphic novels, she became office manager. And Kirsten? Kirsten was the intern with her first year of law school under her belt, spending her summer at Nelson and Murdock.

Major challenge: finding something that these two ladies could connect over. Silver Age Karen was very much 'the love interest' and 'the damsel in distress'. Kirsten is brash and assertive. But... they both came to NYC, in part, to get away from the shadow of their respective fathers. And that was something to build on. And then something happens that forces them to work together.

The other challenge was not having a beta before deadline for this one, so I reread very carefully. Several times. And when my beta did point out a typo after the archive went live, but before the reveal, I quietly fixed it.

Had a great time doing this and hope to do it again next year!