ForevaXena's
FanFic . . .
Vignettes
by Magenta
DISCLAIMERS: I don't know Lucy Lawless, Renee
O'Connor-Muir, Rob Tapert or any of the Xena staff. This is a big huge piece of
FICTION. It's not real, though events it's based on are. And this one is REALLY
short!!!!
I do not own the characters of Xena and Gabrielle, or any other character
mentioned on the television show XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. I'm just playing around
with them.
Other than for "personal use" this story may not be reproduced,
posted, or archived without the express written consent of the author...and that
would be me...
If you have read my "Xena Lawless" series of stories (the Reel Life
series), then you know I like to extrapolate upon my personal conspiracy
theories and possible situations. Whether they are real or not, I don't know. I
bring this up because this is a SHORT story that continues the series.
This is an Alt piece with subtext and main text. If you don't like the brand, go
buy something else, neh?
FOUL LANGUAGE ALERT! Yes, they cuss. Get over it.
SPOILER ALERT!! There are spoilers for the series finale "A Friend
in Need, part one and two."
I'm writing this because it's something that popped into my head as I watched
part two and in the weeks that followed the unfortunate ending to this series.
Thanks go to my boss for leaving his computer at work and letting me use it to
get this idea out so I can work on the million other things I need to work on,
to Evy for pressuring me into writing more in the way of this series (yes, there
will be a Reel Life 5, but I think this needs to come out first,) to Bill who
reads my stuff in its very rough stages to help me out with it, and to my muses,
for being weird.
The title refers to the feeling everyone has that things in their life really
aren't from THEIR LIVES. That somehow you're watching someone else's life unfold
in front of you_kind of like how we've watched the lives of Xena and Gabrielle
over the years.
"A Vignette from a Life Not Mine" by Magenta
(the_AURYN@angelfire.com)
Story Copyright 2001, Kimyoo Films.
~~~~~
CHAPTER ONE
The Kiss
"Uh...yeah. Okay, let's take five, people, then we'll conquer the kiss and
the ending," said Rob, his lispy alto rising over the voices of the
gathered crew. The producer, and the writer/director for the finale, approached
his actors as the crew broke up for lunch.
"You two ready for this?" he asked, his voice tight and controlled.
After all these years, he still didn't like the fact that Lucy left him for
Renee...and they were truly in love.
"Of course we are...but what is the ending? I mean, you keep telling us
that it's a surprise and that we'll love it and we won't be disappointed, but we
haven't seen hide nor hair of those pages."
Rob inwardly winced at the words "we" and "us," but kept his
cool and replied, "You'll know when we get this kiss done with."
Renee almost busted out laughing at the obvious disgust and venom he injected
into the word "kiss," but this is what they bargained for...and she
wasn't about to let him weasel out of it. *It's for the fans...and for us...*
she thought.
"Is it a silent scene, Rob? I mean, if there are lines, we'll need them as
soon as possible..." Lucy pointed out as she wrapped an arm around Renee's
waist.
Rob nearly ripped the script in his hands to shreds. "Don't worry_there
aren't too many lines_then we can all go home.
"Let's reset... We'll take up from Yodoshi's fireball into Gabrielle's
back, reflected by the dragon tattoo."
The crew, aware that these were their last moments together, slowly came back to
work and got into position. They all felt sorry for the guest stars on the last
episodes, new-comers on the last episode. They were still surprised Rob Tapert
didn't take the show back to Chin or keep it in Greece. They all voiced their
concerns, which Rob silenced with a short wave and a curt "I know what I'm
doing..."
Once everyone was back in their positions, they got ready to film the last few
shots, then go into the Mystery Ending. Not even R.J. Stewart, the episode's
co-writer, knew what Rob had up his sleeve...and certainly not Lucy.
"Quiet on the set. Lock it down, please," called Rob to his assistants
and the crew. "Roll cameras, give me speed."
"Speed," called the director of photography.
"And action, Gabrielle."
Renee poured the water into her mouth then reacted to a fireball that would hit
her in the back when it's added in post-production. She then turned around, the
water still in her mouth, and stumbled towards Lucy who was lying on the ground.
Renee got onto her knees and lifted Lucy's head to pour the water from her mouth
into her co-star's, and seal the transfer with a kiss. They broke apart and
looked into each other's eyes. Lucy paused.
"I don't remember my line..."
Rob rolled his eyes. "Cut. Reset..."
"Sorry, Ren...you just taste so good..." whispered the actress to her
blonde co-star.
Renee blushed, helped Lucy to her feet and whispered, "Lucy...we really
should try to get this part over with as soon as possible..."
"Why?" asked her lover.
"Rob's about to not only kill us, but obliterate us..."
"Why do you care all of a sudden? I mean, he's treated you with nothing but
disrespect for a long time."
"Yeah, I know...call it Southern Kindness. I would just rather get through
this without bloodshed..."
Lucy leaned in close to her lover, in spite of the look Rob was giving them, and
whispered softly. "You're so cute..."
Rob cleared his throat. "If we could finish this before the end of the
millennium, I'd appreciate it."
"What's my line, then?" Lucy called over to the script manager.
"It's `Gabrielle', Luce... " he called back, followed by giggles
sprinkled throughout the crew. Lucy smiled and shrugged, then she and Renee
returned to their marks. Once everyone was settled and the set locked down, Rob
called action to Renee.
She scooped the water into her mouth and again reacted to the fireball that
would hit her in post. She stumbled over to Lucy, crawled almost on top of her,
then lifted her head to transfer the water and seal the transfer with a kiss.
Then the director of photography accidentally jarred the camera, ruining the
shot as not enough of the kiss was filmed.
"Goddammit!" shouted Rob. "Cut! Reset!"
Renee smiled and gave Lucy another quick kiss before going back to her first
mark.
"Fucking action already..."
Once again, Renee gathered the water, reacted to the fireball, and transferred
the water to Lucy, sealing the transfer with a kiss. The blonde felt Lucy's body
flush red-hot and reacted by deepening the kiss, becoming oblivious to the film
crew around them. She felt a hand that did not belong her her caress the inside
of her thigh with feather-light strokes, eliciting gooseflesh all over her body.
Rob was staring at the heat the women generated and spaced out, wrapped up in
his own thoughts about what had to have been missing from his relationship with
Lucy to drive her into the arms of another woman. Not once did love cross his
mind.
Finally, as Lucy wrapped her arms around Renee, forgetting the teasing caresses
on the blonde's thigh, needing only to feel her close, did a crew member speak
up. "Uh...Rob...I don't think you can show all this on TV yet."
The producer shook himself from his thoughts and yelled cut. With remarkable
restraint, Renee pulled away from Lucy's lips and sat back onto the ground.
"Just relax a second, I want to check the video of it," said Rob,
noticing the electric looks exchanged between Lucy and Renee. He calmly, almost
clinically, watched the video daily and discovered, much to his dismay, that the
boom mic fell into frame a second after the kiss started and stayed until he
called out cut. Can't edit it out.
He cleared his throat. "Renee...we need to film that again." The
blonde looked over her shoulder and nodded at Rob, then turned back to Lucy.
"Oh darn," she whispered as she snapped her fingers, stood, and went
back to her first mark.
This time, the take went off without a hitch, with enough footage to edit with
and include on the DVD he was planning.
"Cut! Print. Now we move on to the ending.
"Everyone, take a break. Lucy and Renee, I need you to follow me so I can
give you the scripts for the end."
The actors looked at each other, then got up and followed Rob into an office in
the rear of the soundstage.
*****
CHAPTER TWO
Uhoh_
"Rob? You're kidding, right? What is this?" asked Lucy as she finished
reading the script for the ending of the show.
"It's the end, Lucy." Rob took a deep breath, sighed, and sat down in
front of the two actors to talk to them. "With things going how they have
been, I felt that it was time to just end Xena. That way, if there are no more
movies, the fans won't really mind...and if there are, they can say to each
other `Well, that's Xena for ya.' "
"The fans are going to want to lynch you, Rob..." informed Renee.
"Like Hercules and Iolaus, Xena and Gabrielle are supposed to ride off into
the sunset... "
Rob points to the script. "Right here...it says, `Xena and Gabrielle sail
off into the sunset.' "
"But Xena's not ALIVE, Rob... Don't you get it? The point is that love
always triumphs over adversity_that there is no good without evil, no yin
without yang, no Gabrielle without Xena."
"She still has Xena, Renee," the producer said, his patience wearing
thin.
"Gabrielle is talking to an urn. The people she's supposed to be saving are
gonna think she's gone loopy! Off her rocker...a can short of a six pack-"
"Renee...I think you're failing to see the poetic justice behind her
death," said Rob, almost patronizingly, glancing at Lucy to see if she
regarded her lover's rant to be as idiotic as he did. She did not.
"I get it, Rob. I'm not as stupid as you'd like me to be. I'm voicing my
opinion that it needs to be changed."
The producer regarded Renee coldly. "This is the ending to Xena and that is
final. You will perform it the way it is written, with no ad libbing, no improv,
and when you're asked about it, even ten years later, you will say that you
liked the ending. That's how it's written in your contract, and that's how it's
gonna be, you got it?
"Let's go film the fucker." Rob stood and walked towards the door,
leaving Lucy and Renee to look at each other, their anger at Rob apparent in
their eyes, but they stood and followed him out to the set.
Lucy went to the costumer to put her Xena leathers back on and Renee,
soundlessly, stood on her mark next to where Xena would stand in her leathers.
She said nothing to the people who touched up her make-up and the dragon tattoo.
She did, however, look up into Lucy's baleful cerulean blue eyes. They kissed,
needing to feel each others strength in what will become a trying time for all
of them once this scene was filmed and shown.
Impatient, Tapert yelled out, "Cut it out already_we need to shoot this
NOW."
*****
CHAPTER THREE
The Wrap Party
It wasn't as fabulous as the TV programmes made it out to be_ Lucy and Renee
received their matching jade pieces from the crew almost like a final sign of
defiance of their erstwhile producer. While the camera crews were there to
document the ending of the landmark television show, everyone put on their happy
faces, almost in mockery of Rob Tapert. Once the cameras left, the affair turned
somber, with the party breaking up early.
When Renee came out of the costumers room, her getting undressed taking longer
because she needed to take off the tattoos as well, she saw Lucy and Rob talking
by the table that held the refreshments for the party. Curious, but not wanting
to intrude, she hung back, waiting for Lucy to finish talking with Rob so they
could go home. After a minute or two, Lucy broke away from the conversation, and
Rob's hand on her arm, and walked towards Renee, a saddened smile on her face.
"What's the matter, Luce?" the blonde asked as she wrapped her arms
around Lucy's waist and lifted herself onto her tiptoes for a kiss.
"Rob...fuckin'...argh," she said, her usual eloquence clouded by her
anger and frustration with the producer.
"What?"
"He tells me that he prepared, and sent out, a statement to E! Online that
he knew exactly what was going to happen and that he and I are gonna go to
Hawaii for some `family time'...then he has the balls to ask me to go with
him."
"You can if you want..." offered Renee, knowing that this has got to
be difficult for the kids most of all.
"I'm not going anywhere without you, babe..."
The blonde offered Lucy a smile and they walked out, their arms around each
other, and a pissed and jealous Rob Tapert looking after them.
"We'll see about that, Lucy."
The End (until Reel Life 4, that
is ;)
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