Ooooo, that would've been a nice idea, but I didn't think of it. :-(
If you remember the middle of S4, the Scoobs were very much apart. Buffy was sinking ever-deeper into Riley and the Initiative and sort of ignoring her friends. Willow was dealing with being gay and closeted. Giles was feeling useless. Xander was feeling like he was the omega in the Scooby pack, being left behind, and that his friends were secretly laughing at him behind his back.
[Okay, so the Scoobs were even more apart in S6 and S7, but for the purposes of the story, not important.]
Imagine a tragedy happens to Xander at this time. At frist the others do try to help, but conclude that Xander's looking for something that's not there. Xander keeps insisting and acting accordingly, which causes problems. Instead of everyone fighting everyone, you get everyone vs. Xander. Given the isolation in S4, it's not a big stetch for a falling out.
Also, think about canon timeline. S5, the Scoobs are actually pretty united and, at best, there are some squabbles and secret-keeping, but nothing that's really poisonous for their interpersonal relationships. So a massive falling out can't happen there.
The only time in the canon timeline pre-Dawn that would really fit for a massive falling out like that was mid-S4. The only other time that would work was early S3 and Buffy finding out about "the lie," but then Xander would've never been completely welcomed back in the fold under any circumstances. Plus, early S3 was too early to do me any good. There'd be too many differences I'd have to account for with a starting point that early (I guess the same goes for S1 hyena possession, and I'm not sure that would've made much of a difference anyway.)
At least with mid-S4, I could have one big break, then a reconciliation (with Riley's death) that would've allowed things to run vaguely parallel with canon from mid-S5 to mid-S6 with some minor changes (the Olaf situation, for example), and then the final break at 'Hell's Bells.'
So, mid-S4 became my fracture point and all the changes insidiously happened from there.
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If you remember the middle of S4, the Scoobs were very much apart. Buffy was sinking ever-deeper into Riley and the Initiative and sort of ignoring her friends. Willow was dealing with being gay and closeted. Giles was feeling useless. Xander was feeling like he was the omega in the Scooby pack, being left behind, and that his friends were secretly laughing at him behind his back.
[Okay, so the Scoobs were even more apart in S6 and S7, but for the purposes of the story, not important.]
Imagine a tragedy happens to Xander at this time. At frist the others do try to help, but conclude that Xander's looking for something that's not there. Xander keeps insisting and acting accordingly, which causes problems. Instead of everyone fighting everyone, you get everyone vs. Xander. Given the isolation in S4, it's not a big stetch for a falling out.
Also, think about canon timeline. S5, the Scoobs are actually pretty united and, at best, there are some squabbles and secret-keeping, but nothing that's really poisonous for their interpersonal relationships. So a massive falling out can't happen there.
The only time in the canon timeline pre-Dawn that would really fit for a massive falling out like that was mid-S4. The only other time that would work was early S3 and Buffy finding out about "the lie," but then Xander would've never been completely welcomed back in the fold under any circumstances. Plus, early S3 was too early to do me any good. There'd be too many differences I'd have to account for with a starting point that early (I guess the same goes for S1 hyena possession, and I'm not sure that would've made much of a difference anyway.)
At least with mid-S4, I could have one big break, then a reconciliation (with Riley's death) that would've allowed things to run vaguely parallel with canon from mid-S5 to mid-S6 with some minor changes (the Olaf situation, for example), and then the final break at 'Hell's Bells.'
So, mid-S4 became my fracture point and all the changes insidiously happened from there.