Sorry if this isn't the place to go for this, but I have

File: batman holding a marshmallow.jpg (7KB, 184x184px) Image search: [Google]

7KB, 184x184px

Sorry if this isn't the place to go for this, but I have a great disliking of Reddit, and this is the only board that wasn't /b/ or /tg/ where this was most likely to fit. Normally, I don't even come to this board.

However, I have a problem.

Being the trashy little man I am, I was reading some fan fiction. Old fanfiction from 2004-2005. The story has quite a few elements in it that I enjoy, but the writing is absolute garbage, and I desire nothing more at present than to rewrite it in such a way that I feel content, and submit what I write to the internet. However, that is basically plagiarism, and I feel guilty for wanting to do so.

So, I made several attempts to contact the author for permission to do so, but all of the contact information is defunct and useless.

So, I am now stuck on this quandary: Should I write it anyway and take my chances with the probably now long-forgotten author coming back to haunt me/being unable to post my work anywhere, or should I just drop it? If the answer is drop, why so?

Pic unrelated. I didn't have one that fit.