Parallels- an MCSM AU [COMPLETED]

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Holy shit.

Holy. Actual. Shit.

Is that actually the end? Am I actually done with this book? Looks like it.

Well. Now I gotta stop crying long enough to think about what I want to say here.

Writing Parallels was an adventure from start to finish, and even that is an understatement. The idea came in October 2018, and I officially started writing it February 2019 (on the plane home from London, no less). At 168,000+ words and 46 chapters, it is BY FAR the longest thing I've written, being nearly double of basically any of my other MCSM fanfictions.

This story was incredibly freeing, for a lot of reasons. This was the first time that I'd written ahead of myself, being at most, over 20 chapters ahead of what was posted. It took away so much stress- I was free to make this the best story I've yet written, with no worries about deadlines or having not enough time to edit. I had to go on a few writing hiatuses here and there, but it never impacted my posting, which was something that greatly relaxed me.

I fell absolutely in love with this story, with everything from the characters to the plot twists to the ridiculous time-space nonsense. As mentioned above, I spent over three months planning before actually beginning to write, and it was just so exciting to be able to write the scenes and interactions I'd imagined in my head; and even more exhilarating to read comments and see votes/favorites/kudos and know that people were enjoying the book I poured my absolute soul into.

I truly wanted to make Parallels the best thing I've yet written, and I honestly think I've accomplished that. I'm proud of this, and holy shit does it feel good to be able to say that.

This book made me feel a lot better about myself, which I think I really needed. December 2018 to February 2019 was a really hard time for me- one of my very best friends had just died, and I was being forced to grow up a little more than I was ready to. I'd started drifting away from another project I'd been really passionate about, which was hurting me for multiple reasons. Long story short, I could've ended up in a very dark place last year, and it's really because of writing this that I didn't. When I got overly sad or stressed or lonely, I would write or plan Parallels, and it ended up being more important to me than I could've imagined.

Essa and Jess ended up being particularly close to my heart. Maybe I'm weird, but I love watching the main protagonist fuck up and make stupid decisions; some that affect only him, some that spiral off and become even larger problems. No one is 100% infallible, and I think it's very important to show that applies even to 'heroes'. Jess's whole thing is that he tries his best, even when his best isn't going to be enough. He falls and fails and needs help, but he still gets up and keeps trying. This was, in my opinion, one of the things that defined 'Jesse' most as a character, and I wanted to show it as much as possible in this story.

And Essa. I'm glad I had the chance to show all the sides of her- although she's irreversibly a villain, under all those layers of vengeance and anger she was just a lonely girl who wants her friends back. But that doesn't excuse what she does to get them back, and it certainly doesn't redeem her. That was my whole point for her, honestly. I wanted an intimidating villain that one could feel sorry for, but still hope she gets taken down. She might've started out with decent intentions, but all her good sides have long since been worn away when she intentionally chose the darkest paths.

I spent a good amount of time waffling around about the ending of this whole thing. For a while, I was genuinely considering having the fake chapter 44 be the real ending. The mean gremlin part of my brain kept saying "no, this is too good of an ending for a story this horrible. don't make it happy", and I almost listened to it.
But I love this story too much. I love the characters, and I love the wild shit I put them through, and in the end, I wanted it to be satisfying. I wanted these poor kids to be happy again, and I wanted to keep the hopeful feeling of MCSM despite the craziness of this story. So I went back to my original ending, and I'm very glad I did.

Over the course of writing, I toyed with the idea of a sequel here and there. There were still a few things that I thought about exploring, like more about Essa's timeline, Giselle's past, Jasper's uncertain future, or what else might happen to the recently reunited Order. Especially that one.
I still may do something about one or more of these, but for now, I'm not ready to commit to a second part. I do still have several stories in the works, though, so check those out if you're interested!

Now let's talk about some people who are also very important.

Again, giant giant thank-you to becca4leafclover. When you commented your theory way back in October 2018, and I said I wanted to steal the idea, neither of us had any way of knowing what a crazy, long, fun roller-coaster ride it would be. Thank you for letting me completely take over this idea, and for just being my friend. You're awesome.

Another humongous thank-you to my IRL best friend GennaJ8232- you helped a LOT with this story, and I'm eternally grateful. Even when the 'help' was literally just listening to me ramble, it was still fantastic. You're incredible and I don't know what on earth I did to deserve you. Thank you thank you thank you.

Little kudos to Friesandcatsup and Mr. Keeline for the same thing- they both tolerated me right at the beginning of this story, plus they're just awesome <3

Hugs and cookies to  AwesomeYay99, Pteragon, DragonNadder, TheDreamerFrom04_YT, actually_star, mr-mcstorymode and The_Winged_Warrior- you guys were often the first people to vote or comment, and it always made my day to see what you thought about it. I owe ya one. 

(Also to my Discord Crew™ for tolerating my nonstop rabid screaming. Thanks. Love y'all.)

Same goes to my DeviantArt friends ThatEmeraldKat and coughandcolds- you guys always left the most interesting comments, and it made me super happy to know that someone was analyzing the story the way I'd hoped people would when I wrote it. You're both too great.

And of course, I'm legally required to thank my family as well, for dealing with me when I was being a psycho author. There were a lot of evenings when they wanted to watch Supernatural and I wanted to write, and I won. Thanks for that. Also for supplying me with Goldfish crackers when I needed snacks to keep my brain functioning.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, even if it is crazy long and unforgivably feels-y. I absolutely loved being able to share this story with all of you.

If you haven't yet, check out some of my other works! None of them are quite as good as I think this one is, but I would recommend The Other Side of Nowhere (being posted this Saturday!), Undetermined, No Rest for the Wicked, Complications, Unlikely, or Shattered Souls.

Thank you all for the love and support. I honest to god couldn't have done this without you.

❣💕💓💞💖💗

-Rush