NEW One Son: Vignettes in 155 *PG* 1/1
Deslea R. Judd
Copyright 2001
DISCLAIMER: Situations not mine. Interpretation mine. Deal.
ARCHIVE: No. This one's just a little exercise among friends.
RATING: PG. Pretty harmless.
SPOILERS/TIMEFRAME: One Son missing scenes.
CATEGORY: Vignettes, angst, Krycek/Marita, Mulder/Diana, CSM/Cassandra.
SUMMARY: Three One Son 155-word vignettes. For the HaremXF Supporting Women in 155 challenge. To Maidenjedi - you rock!
MORE FIC: http://fiction.deslea.com
FEEDBACK: Love the stuff. deslea@deslea.com.
AWARDS/ELIGIBILITY: None.
1. He Lied
-- CSM shares a moment with a lost love. --
He lied.
He said he never loved his wife, but now he knows that was a lie. Theirs wasn't the fiery passion he'd found with the other, but she brought him warmth and kindness in a life with little of either.
He wonders now why he chose Cass to suffer of the two. At the time, he'd thought he could bear to give her up, but now he knows it was the reverse. When the world dies, he wants to live on with her.
She hates him now.
She's neither the first nor the worst, and she won't be the last. The hatred of others matters little. But Cassandra knows him, and her hatred cuts him to the bone.
He gives her what he can.
It is pitifully little. A few excuses, a humble apology. It isn't enough. But it's all he has.
He said he never loved her, but now he knows he lied.
2. Say Nothing
-- Mulder leaves Diana to go to the trainyard. --
I love you, she wants to say.
She wants him to live. She wants him to heal, to drop the fight, to stop and rest. She wants it so much that she would send the world to hell to give it to him.
She wants him to know about the path to hell, and about the good intentions that led her there. She wants him to know that she's never killed, never maimed, never betrayed another. She's never sold her body, nor forfeited her soul.
She wants him to know that it can't be stopped. She wants him to know so he will let it happen, not postpone it for a useless month or year. She wants it over for them both. She wants him to let go of the redhead, because the redhead is his fight, his struggle, and she knows she could be his rest.
But he walks away, and she says nothing.
3. Stay
-- Krycek leaves Marita at Ft Marlene. --
He wishes he could stay.
He wants to take her skin and warm it with his lips. He wants to soothe her eyes until they sparkle all over again. He wants to cradle her with the arm they took away, and he wants to make her whole.
It's better this way, he wants to say. Better that she gets out now. And she won't, if she goes with him. She'll stand with him to the end, and he can't let her do that. Not when he knows the cost.
Jeffrey's a good man, he wants to say. He'll do his best for you, and he can help you live again. You could do worse, Marita. You could be with me.
He wants to tell her these things. He wants her to know that he loves her; that in a different life, a different world, he would stay.
But in the end, he just walks away.
END
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I always said I'd never do a 155 word fic, but the right challenge will make me break almost any resolution. I'm still not fond of the genre (as a reader), but I have a new respect for the process. It was quite challenging, trying to convey concepts and emotion with so few words.