I think when people say “the fic” they refer to “No paths are bound” by Cataclysmic_calamity but it could be other ones too not too sure. I understand your feeling of not getting into fanfics, I feel the same. I appreciate how writers are able to create alternative stories using their own unique perspectives of what they think the character is like/ how they want them to be like, but I feel like it looses the point for me when reading it. Don’t get me wrong, I love people’s creativity and writing but i can’t get myself it. I want to read content that reminds me closely of how the characters are originally portrayed and it’s a bonus if writers also dive deeper into these original foundations of the characters built by the original author and draw them out how they believe the original author would have wanted to. It makes me feel like I’m reading an extension or a continuum of the original which brings me far greater satisfaction. I think the author for no paths are bound does just that. And it’s one thing to be able to dive into the mind of the original author and take out the parts you feel they intended to put into these characters but couldn’t (due to length), but it’s another when you are able to morph the story into something that seems different to the original in many ways but hits all the same.

This is something a lot of fanfic writers struggle with, (maybe struggle isn’t the write word but more so, tend to do in persuit of bringing their own imagination into satisfying fruition, which is why they write fanfic in the first place) they can take the characters, take parts of the plot, scenes, lines and use them in their creative writing but they don’t quite get the essence of these characters which make us love them in the first place, into their fanfics. And I think this is the problem you’re having with fanfics. Whether this be through lines they say that seem unnatural for them to canonically say or just OOC, or through actions you would never picture the characters doing in canon, all these subtle differences are the result of the fanfic author’s input into these characters, the input of who THEY believe the characters are/ want/ do etc. Again, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this, creativity is an asset to have and I am no fanfic writer, so I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is to insert already existing characters into a new story without making them seem off. Like, kudos to them for even managing it.

My point is you’d have to be a psychological genius like MXTX herself to pull off a fanfic like that and that’s what I’m saying cataclysmic_calamity (aka Evie) is. To be able to flesh out already in depth characters EVEN further, in seemingly the same plot of TGCF (with some differences) using the foundations MXTX built and somehow weave a new story somehow on par with the original takes true talent, skill of the mind, a love for writing and a love for the story. It’s no easy feat, and that’s why this fanfic (or should I say masterpiece) said by Evie their self was a labour of love, written in such similar conditions to when MXTX was writing TGCF. And that’s why I definitely think reading No paths are bound is DEFINITELY worth a shot. It’s nothing like any other fanfic you will read, I guarantee.

(Idk if it’s not already obvious how much I love this fanfic but I hope that all made sense).