X Files Fleeting Bittersweet Collection
LAST UPDATED: 2003
I'm not a fan of heavy-handed angst. I think angst hits the very best notes of poignancy and sadness when told with short and gentle strokes. I think these stories, told through the eyes of a variety of characters eyes, strike all the right chords.
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General
The Slender Line
Experimental retelling of the Cigarette Smoking Man's descent into madness.
Before I Walk On Fire
Follmer/Wainwright tie-in with XFVCU and Prism. An elaboration of a scene between Brad and Yolanda. This can probably be read on its own, although it works better in the context of Prism. NC17.
The Beginning Of The Long Goodbye
Bittersweet Follmer/Reyes NIHT II post-ep. Brad Follmer was a habit she needed to break.
Wonderment
Post-episode, William, vignette. She will wonder. A walk through the mind of Mrs Van De Kamp, the woman who adopted William.
whisperjack
Post-episode, Jump The Shark, PG vignette. "She watches the world through barred windows and thinks of raising little Jimmys and teaching them a better way. It seems so...inadequate. So miserable a contribution to a fight she can no longer bear to lead." Yves/Jimmy.
Four Minutes
Missing scene, Fight The Future, R-rated vignette. SAC Darius Michaud has four minutes to live. Funny how that changes your point of view.
The Wrong Man
Post-episode, One Son, PG vignette. "The only things betraying her calm facade are those compulsively twisting hands." Jeffrey, Krycek/Marita.
Knowle/Shannon
Evolution
R-rated post-col vignette. As the lights go out over a dying world, the spark of human life lives on. Knowle/Shannon.
Caro de carne mea
NC17 pre-XF Knowle/Shannon vignette. Eight years after the change, Shannon finally learns the identity of her counterpart. "It occurs to you that it was an act of war, an assault waged on loneliness and need." See also Like Glowing Embers.
Like Glowing Embers
R-rated pre-XF vignette, set after Caro de carne mea (stands alone). "You're a stranger. And yet you know me better than anyone."
Don't Stop Swaying
Post-episode, NIHT II, PG13 vignette. She can live with the changes in the wind, she thinks, as long as she keeps on swaying. Knowle/Shannon.
Hybrid Kisses
Pre-X Files, PG vignette. Good friends. Good wine. The night before the change. Knowle/Shannon.
Act Of Contrition
R-rated vignette, and a missing scene to novella-length Eschaton (can stand alone). She always comes back. Knowle/Shannon.
The Hubris Of Theodora
Post-episode, The Truth, PG vignette. "She was Theodora. He was her Justinian, pure of heart, but weak of mind and spirit." A post-modern legend. Knowle/Shannon.
Down With The Marked
Post-episode, NIHT II, PG vignette. "He doesn't love her - not the way the humans mean it. But he's marked with her, and she with him." Knowle/Shannon.
Krycek/Marita
I Believe
Post-col PG vignette. On faith, friendship, love, loss, grief, fear, honour, dignity, and truth. A speech about the fallen, delivered to the tattered remnant. Krycek/Marita, others.
The Anointed
Missing scene, Patient X, PG. Krycek wants to rest. Marita wants to make the hurt go away.
Signs Of Life
Post-episode, One Son, PG vignette. Allies in war share a companionable moment along the way. Krycek/Diana friendship, shades of Krycek/Marita and Mulder/Diana. See also Can't Outrun The Dark Man.
Can't Outrun The Dark Man
Missing scene, Amor Fati PG vignette. How can she sleep? Who knows? Maybe she just knows you can't outrun the dark man. Krycek/Diana friendship, shades of Krycek/Marita and Mulder/Diana. See also Signs Of Life.
Dream A Crystal Moon
R-rated vignette. Alex and Marita are caught in a dance that can only lead to one outcome. See also Trace A Random Star.
Trace A Random Star
R-rated vignette. A stolen moment in the eye of the storm. The timeframe for this is non-specific but is probably post-Requiem. Krycek/Marita. See also Dream A Crystal Moon.
Silent / Mark Of Cain
Missing scenes, Requiem, R-rated vignettes. Alex contemplates Forj Sidi Toui, Fort Marlene, and Marita, then gloves, hands, and deeper things.
Waiting In Tangier
Post-episode, Existence, PG13. "He says that he loves her, but maybe it was just the breeze." Krycek/Marita.
Hands
Missing scene, Patient X, NC17 vignette. Marita reflects on what the loss of Alex's arm means to her. Krycek/Marita.
Krycek/Diana
Tell Me A Story
"They told each other stories, little lies to make it all okay." Shades of Krycek/Marita and Mulder/Diana.
The Cold White Room
Christmas is cold for the lonely. Shades of Krycek/Marita and Mulder/Diana.
Signs Of Life
Post-episode, One Son, PG vignette. Allies in war share a companionable moment along the way. Krycek/Diana friendship, shades of Krycek/Marita and Mulder/Diana. See also Can't Outrun The Dark Man.
Can't Outrun The Dark Man
Missing scene, Amor Fati PG vignette. How can she sleep? Who knows? Maybe she just knows you can't outrun the dark man. Krycek/Diana friendship, shades of Krycek/Marita and Mulder/Diana. See also Signs Of Life.
Walk In Darkness, Not In Light
Post-episode, One Son, R-rated vignette. Sometimes, when the world is upside down, you have to take whatever comfort you can get. Krycek/Diana.
Companion Stories
Caro de carne mea
NC17 pre-XF Knowle/Shannon vignette. Eight years after the change, Shannon finally learns the identity of her counterpart. "It occurs to you that it was an act of war, an assault waged on loneliness and need."
Like Glowing Embers
R-rated pre-XF vignette, set after Caro de carne mea (stands alone). "You're a stranger. And yet you know me better than anyone."
Act Of Contrition
R-rated vignette, and a missing scene to novella-length Eschaton. She always comes back. Knowle/Shannon.
Signs Of Life
Post-episode, One Son, PG vignette. Allies in war share a companionable moment along the way. Krycek/Diana friendship, shades of Mulder/Diana.
Can't Outrun The Dark Man
Missing scene, Amor Fati PG vignette. How can she sleep? Who knows? Maybe she just knows you can't outrun the dark man. Krycek/Diana friendship, shades of Mulder/Diana.
Dream A Crystal Moon
R-rated vignette. Alex and Marita are caught in a dance that can only lead to one outcome. See also Trace A Random Star.
Trace A Random Star
R-rated vignette. A stolen moment in the eye of the storm. The timeframe for this is non-specific but is probably post-Requiem. Krycek/Marita. See also Dream A Crystal Moon.
Silent / Mark Of Cain
Missing scenes, Requiem, R-rated vignettes. Alex contemplates Forj Sidi Toui, Fort Marlene, and Marita, then gloves, hands, and deeper things.
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17 November 2013: In The Limits Of Perception, the world is seen through the eyes and stolen thoughts of young Tom Riddle, while in Real, the complicated marriage and friendship between Rodolphus and Bellatrix is explored.
4 November 2013: In Not Loveless and Dark Knight, Bella's return from Azkaban in the Biophilia universe are explored, while in The Edge of Reality, Tom is intrigued when Bella sees through his manipulations - and doesn't seem to mind.
8 September 2013: In Biophilia and Chameleon, Voldemort's complex and flawed relationships with his mother, his Horcruxes, and Bella are explored, while in One's Station In Life, Bella's father asks the Dark Lord to get her under control, and plays unwittingly into their hands.
6 July 2013: In Proxy, Lucius does the unthinkable to spare his wife, while Bellatrix and the Dark Lord are caught in a web of lies, manipulation, and their own twisted brand of love in The Kings and Queens of May, Into The Donacon, and Damnable.
27 February 2013: In Mark of Cain, Narcissa Malfoy learns a secret about her husband that turns the tables on their lifeless marriage, and in Garden of Memories, she and Lucius defend each other and their marriage from the Dark Lord, risking everything they've worked to save.
20 December 2012: In Witch Break A Vow, Astoria Greengrass learns that sometimes there are no good choices, only ones that contain the damage.
23 October 2012: In Silver Starlight and Golden Wine, Narcissa's wedding night is a journey of trust. It's a standalone moment in the Blue Vial universe, but it can be read on its own. Meanwhile, in Folie A Deux (Madness of the Two), Voldemort and Bellatrix lead each other deeper into madness.
14 October 2012: In Under Your Skin, a small piece of unashamed Hallowe'en fluff, seventeen-year-old Tonks flirts shamelessly with her Potions Professor. Snape gives as good as he gets. Also added Want You To Want Me, a standalone Sons of July missing scene, in which Tonks seduces a willing Lucius for her own ends - but both get more than they bargained for.
22 September 2012: In Of Vials Blue and Shades of Grey, Narcissa knows there is another woman, but learning who and why makes for hard choices to bring them all through. Narcissa POV on The Blue Vial. Also, in Spoken For, we meet the Pureblood children of Hogwarts whose marriages have already been arranged when they arrive.
8 September 2012: In The Blue Vial, Lucius offers Tonks a choice between an easy death and the means to endure the torture he has been instructed to inflict on her. The resulting revilement/sympathy between them will be both their comfort and their imprisonment for the rest of their lives. Also posting a major update to The Substitute (half as long again) and minor edits to Two Of A Kind: Yule Interlude.
12 June 2012: In The Substitute, Lucius and Tonks enter a marriage of convenience to facilitate Narcissa and Draco's escape, and facilitate her infiltration of the Death Eaters. It soon becomes a folie a deux - for them, and for Snape as well. Tonks is torn between who she is and who she pretends to be.
8 May 2012: In Sons of July, the arranged marriage and deep friendship between Lucius and Narcissa sets the scene for the Dark Lord's last stand. They and their private loves, spies Nymphadora and Severus, all have secrets, and sacrifices will be needed along the way. Meanwhile, in Awake, Narcissa draws on her every reserve to help her imprisoned husband hang on to his mind.
7 April 2012: In Kill To Be Kind, an AU battle scene set at Malfoy Manor, Lucius and Tonks debate the relative merits of loving and killing one another. Also, I've revived an old story, Between Worlds, which I took down at one time in response to fandom developments that no longer appear to be at issue. In this crackpot Chamber of Secrets missing scene, Moaning Myrtle meets a ghost who isn't quite dead yet. Non-explicit underage fumblings and humour ensue.
4 January 2012: In Two Of A Kind: A Yuletide Interlude, Andromeda comes to terms with her flight from her family of origin, against the backdrop of Nymphadora's and Lucius' growing attachment. Meanwhile, in Fair Fight, a humour SSHG piece, Snape is a reluctant war hero, and the witches come a-courting. To his bemusement, Hermione is one of them.
8 December 2011: In Part 4 of Two Of A Kind, Tonks allows herself to see who Remus really was, while the final chapter sees both Lucius and Tonks make their peace with their lost loves and face their future together.
15 October 2011: Part 3 of Two Of A Kind sees Harry Potter's Lucius torn between the wife he lost and the woman he loves now.
2 October 2011: A site overhaul, a new Harry Potter theme, and special pages for some of the other collections (especially TSCC, which is on the backburner but not forgotten).
1 October 2011: I've restored my translations page, and added a Chinese translation of I Enjoy You with thanks to Joanne. :)
26 September 2011: In the postwar ficlet I Enjoy You, Hermione uses a willing Snape to make Ron jealous, only to find she's happy right where she is. Meanwhile, Two of a Kind Part 1 and Part 2, an AU postwar novella, sees Lucius and Tonks widowed and finding their way through grief together. (Work in progress).
28 August 2011: In Vigil, Hermione takes a moment by a lonely grave, to reflect on the schoolgirl crush who became her hero.
Update History
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