A Dance With Death

Q&A and Confessions

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[Total Word Count -- 127,093]

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So, that ending huh?

I've never been one for happy endings, really. I don't like spoon-feeding the readers and prefer open endings because they leave a LOT of room for imagination. You get to choose your own ending.

But some of you have been disappointed by the questions that were left hanging. I didn't want to do a separate Author's Note, but I've been receiving a few questions regarding what happened, and I figured I should answer them just for the sake of some closure.

Is there a sequel?

Sadly, no. The conclusion, I feel, is perfect the way it is.

Did you have an alternative ending planned?

Nope. I had built the outline for the story before I had started writing it -- everything including the start, the characters, the plot twists, as well as the ending. Once I had a solid plot to work with, only then did I start writing. So sorry, there wasn't an alternative planned.

Does everyone else who Caius had killed come back to life?

Death did ask Caius to turn everything back to normal so...

Is Caius dead in real life, or just in Zayn's mind?

Well, he did kill himself, if that's what you're asking. He is, in true sense, dead. Death didn't see it coming, and Caius killed himself while the 'time-paradox' thingy was happening, so yeah, he's dead. And yes, he did break the Order.

Caius was in Griffith's body, so what happens to Griffith when Caius kills himself?

Griffith was just another form that Caius took, like Niall. Griffith was already dead. Again, Death asked Caius to turn everything back to normal so...

Does anyone else (the reapers, Ava, Gwen, etc.) remember what happened?

Judging from the concert (and epilogue) where nobody seems to have reacted or anything, it is assumed that no one, besides Zayn and Niall (yes, Niall too) and even Ektor remembers what happened. But then again, it's up to you.

The eight year younger Gwen -- is she evil or good?

She became evil because of Caius, and now that he's not around, she won't be. She'll still be in a coma, and will wake up one day like Althea said.

Will Griffith and Althea ever end up together?

Lmao it's up to you. No spoon-feeding!

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So yeah, that's it! That's how the Dance ends. Congratulations on making it this far and dealing with all the emotional stress! I am so sad this is over because I've spent a lot of time developing this story and its characters. I loved writing every word of it and I hope you enjoyed it too. Thank you so much for reading! I cannot tell you how much I'm grateful to every. single. one. of. you. Whether you stay silent, or whether you comment at least fifteen times on a chapter -- you rock.

The main theme of the story was to show how that not always does a hero have a way to deal with the villain. Sometimes, the bad guy is too powerful to be dealt with. No matter how much the hero tries, there is no way out of it. Sometimes, things don't even go either way. Neither does the bad guy win, nor the hero. This is real life -- some things are left incomplete.

The initial idea came to me about three years ago, while I was watching the 'Supernatural' episode titled, 'In My Time Of Dying'. I thought "What if a 1D member went into a coma?" And then I thought "What if a 1D member died?" Thus was born 'A Dance With Death'. And then other ideas came along.

It took me a long time to finish this story because I was hit with numerous writer's blocks, because of school and also because of my lazy, procrastinating butt. I had to add that many plot twists just to make the story go more smoothly and overcome my blocks, if that makes any sense. As for the other complicated stuff relating to the Order, the souls and Death, well, you can say I have a wide imagination. Either that, or my life is really uninteresting.

And to answer this popular question: no, the story wasn't inspired by the movie 'If I Stay'. I haven't seen the movie lol. I just used clips from it for my trailer.

Again, thank you so much for your support. Every time I would read a comment or a PM regarding this story, I would do a little dance and then reply. Every time I received a comment saying 'this deserves more reads' or 'this should be published', I squealed a little. You saying that is more than any amount of reads I could get :') I'm so happy with how this has ended!

Special thanks to my older readers who have been here since the start. I love you guys so much! You can now even re-read this, and this time, you don't have to worry about cliffhangers ;)

Enough about me! Tell me about your thoughts. What is your overall view about the story? What was your favourite part? Who was your favourite character? Most importantly, did the story impact you in anyway? What would you rate it if this was on goodreads (out of 5)? :P

If you still have some questions, feel free to ask them. You can shoot me a PM if you want to talk about the story, or anything in general. I would love to talk to you guys :)

Bye! See you in the next one ;)

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(sorry I'm a ziall trash)

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" Every story ever told really happened. Stories are where memories go when they're forgotten."

-- The Twelfth Doctor