#Mulder angst | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jackfuckingtwist · 23 days

Text

— It's not grape, it's lavender. — Well, if you like the taste of lavender, why not just drink a bottle of perfume?

219 notes · View notes

sentientsky · 2 months

Text

Amal El-Mohtar, This is How You Lose the Time War

welcome back to x-files brainrot (inspired by late-night conversations with alex lol)

#the x files #x files #also PLEASE READ THIS IS HOW U LOSE YHE TIMR WAR IT IS SO GOOD #this is how you lose the time war #smulder #Dana scully #fox mulder #smulder angst #scully #mulder #scully x mulder #mulder x scully #scully and mulder #mulder and scully

300 notes · View notes

actual-changeling · 20 days

Text

the monday time loop was perfect and incredibly painful but imagine the same thing for the pusher episode.

they always end up in that hospital room. modell always has a gun and forces them to play his twisted version of russian roulette. the first chamber is always empty—and this is where the record stops and the needle scratches.

sometimes, mulder dies but he isn't supposed to, that bullet is not meant for him, and back to the start we go.

most of the time, he points the gun at scully, pulls the trigger, and watches her blood spill across the floor. she doesn't see the fire alarm, she reaches for his gun, she doesn't step back fast enough—a myriad of variables resulting in her death.

over and over. mulder has to watch her die over and over.

it's not a slow, creeping death like the one they have to face in the bank. this one is violent and quick, it's a trigger pulled against every single thought and instinct in mulder's body.

it's guilt. over and over and over. the needle keeps skipping, the song refuses to continue until they finally get it right. her lips move seemingly on their own accord, forming the same handful of words as she stares down the barrel of a gun.

look in the mirror. look in the mirror. look in the mirror.

until the bullet is in the third chamber, she sees the fire alarm and activates it in time. until mulder points the gun away from her and at modell instead.

the bullet is meant for him, and they are meant to stand and watch him waste away with their hands intertwined.

still, when they leave the hospital (alive, together) the guilt lingers in mulder's heart, and an odd phantom pain is lodged in scully's throat. she distantly remembers sprays of red and her knees buckling, a nightmare haunting her into the daylight, and her voice getting lost in her last breaths.

look in the mirror.

mulder doesn't ask, neither of them tells, but they go home together that night; his, hers, it doesn't matter as long as she can fit herself against his chest. as long as he can wrap her in an embrace and they can listen to their hearts beating beating beating past midnight and into the twilight.

#alex watches x files #txf #the x files #x files #dana scully #fox mulder #scully x mulder #mulder x scully #msr #msr ficlet #look i'd apologize but angst is my thing and i enjoy making people suffer with my fics

103 notes · View notes

sunflowerseedsandscience · 2 months

Text

Various Storms and Saints- Prologue

"You still haven't told me if he's cute or not."

Scully sighed and pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead, cradling the phone in the crook of her neck. Nobody could make her regret bringing up a subject as quickly as her sister when she put her mind to it. "No, Missy, I haven't," she allowed. "Because it's irrelevant. Mulder's good looks aren't the reason I miss working with him."

"So you admit it? He is cute?"

"Missy. Can we please have a serious conversation, for once?"

"Fine, fine," Melissa acquiesced, though her tone made it clear this point would be revisited in the future. "Tell me why you miss working with him, then."

"Well... part of it is the cases we tackled together," Scully said. "The autopsies I'm stuck doing now that the X-Files are shut down seem so boring in comparison to murderous clones and mind-controlling worms in the Arctic."

Melissa whistled. "Yeah, I can see how that might be a little bit of a come down. What's the other part?"

"What other part?"

"You said the cases are part of the reason. So what's the other part?"

Scully closed her eyes. How to define this most indefinable of relationships, especially to Melissa, who so often seemed to think every person in her life fit into a neat box? "I miss the way he spoke to me," she said finally. "He never talked down to me, not even when he was standing so close I practically had to break my neck to meet his eyes. He made me feel like the things I have to say are important... that they carried real weight with him, even when he didn't agree with me." She chuckled ruefully. "Which was most of the time. He's always shown me a respect that I don't get that often, being surrounded by men in positions of authority who all love to hear themselves talk."

"That does sound like it would be tough to leave behind," agreed Melissa. "Couldn't you... I dunno, lobby to be his partner on whatever assignment he's on now, though? Then at least you'd still be working together even if it wasn't in the X-Files."

"He's working with someone else," said Scully darkly. "At least he was on his most recent case. I don't know if they're officially partners or not."

"And you don't like whoever it is," said Melissa knowingly. "I can hear it in your voice." "I don't really know anything about him," Scully admitted. "But... there's something strange about him, you know? He just makes me nervous." There had been something about Alex Krycek's fresh-faced innocence that had seemed less than genuine, even if Scully couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Bad vibes, huh?"

"Maybe." Scully sighed. "For all I know, it's just my jealousy getting in the way because I want to be the one out there with Mulder."

"See, I knew you liked him," crowed Melissa, and Scully groaned, exasperated.

"Melissa. It's not like that."

"Fine, fine, whatever you say," Melissa huffed. "Hang on a sec, okay?" The phone was muffled, as though Melissa had put her hand over the receiver. Someone's voice asked a garbled question, Melissa gave an equally garbled response, and a moment later, she was back. "Hey Danes, I gotta go, okay?"

"Wait, Melissa, what's your--"

"There's a meditation session I'm supposed to lead and they're waiting for me. I'll call you soon, okay?"

"But Melissa, where are--" There was a click, and the line went dead.

Scully dropped her bedroom extension back into its cradle on the nightstand and sank back onto her bed with a sigh, snuggling into the cardigan she'd pulled on over her work clothes when she'd walked into her apartment. She'd come home from work for lunch, having finished her morning teaching session a little early, and had been available purely by chance when Melissa called for the first time in two months. Phone conversations with her older sister, while always welcome, tended to be exhausting these days. She hadn't seen Melissa in years, not since the day after her graduation from medical school. Melissa hadn't made it to the event itself, but she'd shown up at the party her parents had thrown her afterwards. Melissa hadn't understood her sister's disappointment, and Maggie Scully, as she so often did, had defended her elder daughter to her younger.

"You know big ceremonies aren't really your sister's thing, Dana," she'd said, patting Scully's shoulder consolingly. "She barely sat through her own high school graduation. Just be thankful she's here for the celebration, all right?"

Sitting through a graduation ceremony was boring, to be sure, but that hadn't stopped Scully from doing it for all three of her siblings when they'd finished high school, plus for Bill and Charlie when they'd finished college. In her opinion, it had nothing to do with how exciting or boring the ceremony itself was, and everything to do with showing up for the people she loved when their hard work and accomplishments were recognized.

Showing up. That was something Melissa had traditionally had difficulty with, when it came down to it.

They hadn't even had a working phone number for Melissa last Christmas when Ahab had passed. Scully, tasked with handling everything while her mother waded through her initial shock and grief, had called every friend of Melissa's she could think of, trying to locate her sister, and had failed. She'd been reduced to sending a letter to Melissa's last known address in hopes it might get correctly forwarded. But it never got to her, as was evidenced three months later when Melissa had called home, chatted with Maggie cheerfully about her recent travels, and then had asked to speak to her father and had been completely lost when her mother had burst into tears.

"Free-spirited" had always been how the family had described Melissa. But deep down, in her darkest and most shameful thoughts, the word Scully sometimes landed on was "selfish."

Scully's cell phone rang, startling her out of her reverie. She half-expected it to be Mulder, begging her to do another autopsy he couldn't trust with anyone else, but it was Roy Seekamp, a fellow FBI pathologist whose office in the Hoover building was next to Scully's.

"Where are you?" asked Roy. "One of the AD's came looking for you but your office is locked. Skinner, I think his name was?"

"I came home for lunch. What's going on?"

"Something big is going down in Virginia," said Roy. "Some hostage situation with an escaped mental patient."

Scully frowned, confused. "Why would they need me for that?" she asked.

"I don't think they actually need you or anything," said Roy. "The AD was just looking for you to let you know your old partner is there on the scene."

Scully's heart skipped a beat. "Mulder is there?" She got off the bed and raced out of her bedroom, tearing off the cardigan and snatching up her bag. "What's he doing there? He's not a hostage negotiator!"

"No idea," said Roy. "I think AD Skinner just wanted you to hear it from him. You coming back to the office?"

"Yes," Scully said, pulling on her shoes. "Be there soon." She ended the call and stuffed her phone into her bag, then looked down and realized she was still clutching her cardigan. She folded it in half and draped it over the back of her couch on her way out the door.

It stayed there, untouched, for over a month.

#my fic #x-files fanfic #Various Storms and Saints #Some of y'all are gonna HATE this #angst alert #Mulder/other resolving into MSR #JUST TRUST ME I WOULD NEVER STEER YOU WRONG

85 notes · View notes

fine-nephrit · 2 months

Text

🥏 TXF Fic Rec #28: "This House is Burning" by Tesla

Today’s fic is one of the best profiler!Mulder casefiles. It strikes a nice balance, offering just the right amount of everything: the case is engaging with genre-savvy details yet is neither convoluted nor cumbersome; the romance is front and center but not overindulgent. The prose is straightforward and streamlined. It flows with such ease and pulls you into the narrative effortlessly — it’s a page-turner before you know it.

A number of cliched romance tropes are played straight (e.g., the 'one bed' scenario, misunderstandings due to an inability to communicate), but the excellent writing pulls them off with great subtlety. I buy it all. I love the dialogue in the final scene that resolves the emotional arc, marking one of my favorite UST to RST moments. I often find sex scenes dull and skippable, but every single one here is hot, short and well-written. This is a comfort fic that I return to time and again, enjoying it with unchanging pleasure.

---

🥏 on X-Libris 🥏 on Gossamer (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

length: novella, 36,000+ words season: early seasons, probably season 3 pairing(s): M/S UST to RST tags: casefile, angst, smut, rift, one bed, undercover, Scully-POV, Mulder-POV rating: mature/R

#x files #x files fanfic #nephrit's fic rec #favorite #len: novella #season: 3 #ship: m/s ust to rst #genre: angst #genre: casefile #genre: smut #rift #one bed #undercover #scully pov #mulder pov #rating: r #by: tesla

33 notes · View notes

the-spooky-alien · 1 year

Text

Obssessed with the fact that Mulder barged in Scully's flat in Orison because she didn't answer his phone call. Not only does it imply that he knows her well enough to know that something is wrong, but also that Scully never ignores one of his phone call unless she literally can't because she's busy being traumatized again. These two, I swear...

#txf #dana scully #fox mulder #msr #you bet Mulder is thinking about Duane Barry too when he's on his way to her appartment #wondering if he'll be there to save her on time or if he'll fail again #the angst was delicious in this episode #but also why do they need to make Pfaster the literal Devil ?#him being a man is way more scary than him being a demon

294 notes · View notes

mulders-too-large-shirt · 11 days

Text

s1 episode 12 thoughts

another episode that had me. STRESSED. OUT.

first of all... the episode being about an irish guy who sets the british aristocracy on fire... the insensitivity there is fascinating. the 90's really were a time, huh?

second of all this phoebe is very pretty and very bold to kiss mulder right in front of scully. i was shocked. and it kept getting more and more shocking! (shoutout to scully for averting her gaze when they kissed. a respectful coworker!)

and the whispered "she hates me" from phoebe and tiny waves goodbye while otherwise entirely ignoring scully's presence... yeah this is sick psychological torment

! MULDER LORE REVEAL ! he's terrified of fire! and this ex wants to get him involved on an arson case! what could go wrong? (seriously though why does he want to do this. why wasn't there another person who could take this case. i'm seeing no appeal to getting involved)

AND he leaves scully to go attend to this nonsense. betrayal.

! FURTHER MULDER LORE REVEAL ! the two broke up because she cheated on him which is revealed in the same breath as the fact that they hooked up on arthur conan doyle's grave. i will be doing my best to not psychoanalyze that and then failing. how can i look him in the eye with this knowledge.

(i think they're going for a sherlock-irene parallel here but counterpoint: i don't like it)

<3 <3 <3 scully in glasses... think my heart skipped a beat <3 <3 <3

this whole thing was soooo sick and twisted. when phoebe said "i've booked a hotel for the night" (cut to mulder in deep distress) that was evil

(also scully calling and saying she had something important and he completely blew her off... only for her to show up anyway... queen shit she literally said idgaf i'll solve ur case for you dumbass)

i'd actually like to copy out what i wrote in my notes verbatim for this next part:

"Mulder in a suit Phoebe in a backless dress. Tension is palpable oh they're dancing. SCULLY WALKED IN ON YHAT WJAT THEBHELL OH THEYREKISSING WHAT THE HELL OH SHW'S ROLLING HER EYESAT THIS OH SHE JUMPED IN"

i think that speaks for itself

but in case it DOESN'T: scully pacing outside watching them dance and kiss was distressing to me. i will reblog many gifs of this when i find them eventually. free her from this situation y'all she did NOT deserve it. luckily a fire provided an excuse to make her presence known.

when mulder was scared to go into the fire and then he passed out and then he pushed scully's hand away while she was shifting into Doctor Mode... nearly screamed. he resists the tenderness offered to him.

and then cutscene to him waking up in bed shirtless and she's there offering him water! phoebe brings him into this fire- his worst fear- and the symbolism of scully bringing him WATER!

and YET the first thing he does is: ASK FOR PHOEBE! MULDER I CANNOT KEEP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOU (phoebe once again entirely ignores scully beyond a quick goodbye the commitment to pettiness is remarkable)

then he shows up to save the family from being lit on fire and phoebe is kissing the dad. muldershockedpikachuface.jpg (was anyone surprised. raise ur hand if u saw this coming)

but he jumped into the fire to go save the children!!! because he needs to be a hero and conquer his fears!!

i think scully had a very raw end of the deal this episode and when she knocked on his door pretending to be phoebe and asked in a british accent if he was going to buy her lunch. well. she had a good spirit about the whole thing. it's important for her to be mean to him sometimes.

during this episode i fell victim to exactly what i knew the screenwriters were doing, purposefully provoking anger in the viewer through an outrageous ex that also served as character exposition in revealing mulder's background. but once again this episode proves that dana scully deserves the world for putting up with this nonsense and somehow still choosing to have a positive attitude. give her a raise and a vacation.

#i take my episode notes on my phone and post on my laptop so typing out that reaction verbatim was hard #anyway. i saw one of the next episodes involves scully's ex so i'm looking forward to similar levels of angst.#sighs deeply. this is literally just season one. how much more of this must be endured.#mulder get it together. you looked very nice in a suit but i've had it with ur shenanigans.#AND stop romanticizing having sex on graves haven't the dead gone through enough #i think this account will slowly turn into a dana scully lovebot sort of situation. oh well! i'm a simple woman!#juni's x files liveblog #txf #the x files

23 notes · View notes

figureofdismay · 29 days

Text

i become more and more convinced that Scully reacts like a person with Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria when Mulder shows signs of being interested in spending time with people who are Not Her. Starting with prime plagiaristic schlub Jerry Lamana, former partner, so it's not just a romantic jealousy. The Lone Gunmen are exempt from this somehow, probably because the guys always support Mulder but also don't monopolize his time. But anyone else, especially a female someone else, makes her spiral painfully.

Yes, there's an element of protectiveness. Everyone around Mulder seems to take advantage of him, he practically goes barrelling out asking to be misused and misled. But it's really, clearly not just that, because she goes into big distress and starts doubting her place in her life, regardless of the rationality of it, or what Mulder has shown or communicated to her about his feelings for her in the past.

It's endearing, but it's not, despite what collective fanon plays on to enhance angst scenarios, grounded in the reality of mulder's actual textual behavior and sentiments towards her, i.e. that he's ever given any indication that there's any way he'd accept someone else as his partner or give anyone else the majority of his attention. Rationally Scully know this, to the point that she was worried that he wouldn't survive if she died of the cancer. But RSD isn't rational, it's a maladaptive reaction, and one that makes a lot of sense with her being some flavor of 'quirky 90s character' ND who's always been socially just as much an outsider as Mulder has.

I don't think it's an intentional portrayal of that specific type of reaction, but i don't think Scully's jealousy/fear of being unseated is meant to show that her place with him is in actuality tenuous. And i personally believe that within the parameters of their indirect communication style and via all the massive gestures and risks they've taken for each other, the security of their bond actually is mutually well established. It's just those reaction flashpoints for her, where he pays attention to another woman in the course of an investigation/crisis incident and despite the fact that they've gone to the ends of the earth for each other, she starts thinking, 'well maybe he's done with me, maybe this is the time he's found someone more interesting he likes better, it's all over.' But even with Diana I don't think this is grounded in Mulder's actual behavior or level of interest in any ~interlopers. It's a reaction that she's having but it's disproportionate.

And I do love some yummy angst fic and love triangles and playing Diana up to the ultimate wedge issue! But I do also think it would be interesting to dig into Scully's jealousy/possessiveness/disproportionate hurt. I think Mulder sees it, at least somewhat, he's not ~afflicted with masculine feelings blindness or just being a self-absorbed ass (as some have accused lol), I think he's just bewildered, and doesn't seem to feel able or even allowed to approach these kind of personal emotional issues with Scully -- and she does also get very defensive about things in this vein so. It's hard to find the inroad to get them to talk about it.

But I do think it would be interesting to see, confronting the actual issues inherent in Mulder having/displaying professional or even casual personal interest in other people/women that he doesn't see as serious or impactful long term in his life, and Scully feeling as though she's in a love triangle, which is a very unsettling, even terrifying feeling even if it's not representative. It would be interesting to see Mulder see and confront that, have him saying, basically, nothing about us has changed and I don't plan for it to change, but i see you catastrophizing this and I don't get it. Why do you even think you'd need to compete?

Though i also don't see Scully being able to respond to that beyond deflection or getting emotional to the point of being unable to articulate anything. But it is something she needs to wrestle with, especially as she and Mulder head deeper and deeper into their relationship.

#character theory: scully #dana scully #she's one of my favorite character ever ever but i do think it's an unhealthy reaction #and disproportionate to the actual level of threat that any 3rd party - even an ex - could have to the most bonded soulmate partnership #and the thing is aside from the angst machine plot arcs they do /know/ that they are that bonded. yes scully too #idk i just feel weird about how like. yes I actually find it so funny and endearing that she gets so bent out of shape about Bambis etc #but she obviously also has rejection/abandonment issues at least with mulder specifically #who she has essentially made part of her personal identity without communicating any of her needs attendant w that or even being willing #to admit she has any or that that's what she's done #and the enormous preemptive fear and loss she feels get outsourced to Mulder on the premise that 'he's an insensitive jerk lol'#when it's a problem they're both having and if anything she's having it /at/ him without giving him an avenue to reassure or communicate ab #*about it #it's straight to pseudo ultimatum. which. puts them deeper and deeper in a hole they don't know the way out of #txf #msr

30 notes · View notes

whumpdoyoumean · 2 months

Text

I don't think there's ever been any doubt that The X-Files is an absolute treasure trove of whump, but man the season 2 finale is actually legendary. In the course of a SINGLE EPISODE we get:

-drugged Mulder -uncharacteristically angry, lashing out Mulder -grieving Mulder -feverish sweaty Mulder -Mulder semi-collapsing onto Scully -Mulder being led to bed and cared for by Scully -Mulder getting shot by Scully -Mulder with red-tinged bandages -Mulder walking around with his arm held to his chest to avoid aggravating his wound -fake death Mulder

It's just 45 minutes of physical, mental, and emotional suffering for him. If you haven't seen it, please do. Absolutely wonderful episode.

#the x files #fox mulder #dana scully #whump rec #2x25 #physical whump #emotional whump #drugged #fever #shot #angst #care #bandages #bleeding through bandages #whump #whump gifs

31 notes · View notes

frogsmulder · 2 months

Text

Invisible Wounds

Krycek tends to Mulder's head wound while they are imprisoned in the gulag in Tunguska; 500ish words; rated t; tagging @today-in-fic

special thanks to my one and only Finn for translating the Russian <3 and to Anika (aka @baronessblixen, go check out her fic!) for the title

read on ao3

It's cold. The smell of damp and dirt fill the air. It's dark too save for the slit of light from a small barred window. Mulder's head throbs dully, the ache unforgiving.

Waking from a fitful sleep, he squints as a dark shadow moves across his vision. His heart rate picks up and his head hurts more. He's sat slumped against the wall, the cold concrete scratching and biting at his scalp as he musters the energy to follow the shadow. He swallows his fear as the figure approaches.

Every muscle in his body tenses. There is the sound of fabric ripping. The figure bends down to him and he screws his eyes shut.

"все окей, я с тобой, их здесь нет."

The foreign tongue is soft but no less intimidating. A hand grabs his shoulder steadying him, another gently holds his chin. Eyes flying open, Mulder levels a stare at his assailant, his face so close to his he can't discern any features in the darkness.

“I don't speak Russian,” he spits in the figure's face.

“What?”

He laughs back at him and applies a gentle pressure around where his head stings, wiping away the blood. "ты всегда был такой сучкой?”

“I said, have you always been a little bitch?”

Mulder jerks away, the voice suddenly clear. “Krycek?”

Slowly, Mulder relaxes, letting Krycek dab at his brow. His touch is surprisingly caring, fingertips warm against his cold skin. He shivers at the contact. He is vaguely aware of Krycek hushing him as he brushes his hair away from the cut.

“Hold still, I'm getting the grit out of your cut, идиот."

Images of Scully play through his mind and he shuts his eyes against the pain, wishing that she was here with him to be his doctor. That it was her dainty hands running through his hair, checking for concussion; her blue eyes he could stare into, her concerned expression he could watch knowing that meant deep down she loved him.

He opens his eyes to see not a light dusting of freckles, nor a swish of fiery red hair, but Alex's warm brown eyes and long lashes, his tongue poking out slightly in concentration. Mulder studied his face: dirty, it held a similar contortion of concern to Scully's, finally the twitch at the corner of his lips letting him know he knew Mulder was watching him.

Heat rising rapidly to his cheeks, Mulder clenches his jaw and averts his attention, thinking instead to how he'd rather be watching Scully. Again, Alex runs his fingers through his hair and her occasional but singular smile comes to mind.

He can't stop the tears that come. They spill silently down his cheeks for her. Missing her every second he is here and she is on the other side of the world.

With the pad of his thumb, Alex quietly wipes away the streams down Mulder's cheeks.

Silently, Mulder glares at him, more angry with himself for showing his vulnerability to a man he cannot yet has to trust. Frozen in the headlights of Mulder's stare, Alex hesitates. Seconds between them stretch for an eternity before Alex stands and walks to the other side of their cell, sitting as far away as possible. Mulder dries his cheeks with the back of his rough jumper sleeve and turns away from Alex, willing himself not to lose anymore tears.

#xf fanfic #the x files #fox mulder #alex krycek #my writing #hurt/comfort #angst

25 notes · View notes

agent-troi · 5 months

Link

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The X-Files Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully Additional Tags: Post-Episode: s06e18 Milagro, Developing Relationship, Introspection, Flowers, Angst, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Fluff, Dorks in Love, Happy Ending Summary:

Mulder is finally ready to make a move on Scully, but runs into an unexpected obstacle… or does he?

@today-in-fic

#inspired by this bouquet of flowers i found in a trash can the weekend after valentine's day lmao #x files #x files fanfic #today in fic #msr fanfic #ao3 fanfic #fox mulder #dana scully #mulder x scully #msr #milagro #flowers #fluff and angst #dorks in love #happy ending

42 notes · View notes

denim-devil · 2 years

Text

Why is there no fox mulder stans on here like-

#male reader #x male reader #x files #fox mulder #david duchovny #smut #fluff #angst #like mans needs more fans

281 notes · View notes

sentientsky · 28 days

Text

"Brand New City" - Mitski

#season 8 scully save me. save me season 8 scully #txf #txf angst #txf edit #my edit #mitski #the x-files #x-files #the x files #dana scully #x files #fox mulder #mulder x scully #scully x mulder #msr #cw death mention

102 notes · View notes

actual-changeling · 7 days

Text

once again, they're capable of hearing the truth in everything left unsaid:

i can survive anything (except losing you)

#alex watches x files #txf #the x files #x files #dana scully #fox mulder #scully x mulder #mulder x scully #msr #the angst in wetwired is so delicious

62 notes · View notes

darkesttimelinestuff · 8 months

Text

“It’s not your fault.”

Here is my first submission for my first ever Fictober! Let's see if I can do the whole month. All of my fanfic will be X-Files/MSR-based.

No content warning on this little angsty fic:

Fictober prompt #31 - "It's not your fauly

Though he should have been in bed long ago, Fox sat huddled on the floor of his bedroom, ear pressed to the door. His parents’ harsh whispers grew to shouts, but it was difficult to make out exactly what they were saying.

Words like “merchandise” and “vaccines,” “colonists” and “patriot” were tossed back against “selfish” and “prick.” And “my baby.” The former made sense to Fox academically, but not in this context from his father.

The young boy sat holding his breath, trying to make sense of the conversation. The fight.

There came a tap from his window. Fox’s head snapped up.

He waited and listened, but there was only silence and he wondered if a bird bad accidentally flown into the window. That happened all the time. Not very often in the winter, but it was not unheard of.

Pressing his ear to the door again, Fox strained again to hear his mother’s words.

“Why her? It’s not fair! She was my baby!” his mother wailed.

“Would you rather I sent Fox to them?” his father yelled.

“Yes! NO! I…”

Fox flinched as if he’d been slapped.

Another tap at the window.

This time Fox stood, carefully crossing the room to his window. He peered into the moonless, motionless night. There was the standard view: his favorite climbing tree, the expanse of lawn he cut in spring and summer, his basketball, a still street. There was no one there that he could see, yet he waited.

Did he dare open the window? What if it was a wild animal or a robber?

What if it was Samantha?

Throwing back the curtains completely and opening the window, Fox stuck his head outside and looked down.

“Geez, Fox!” said a small but commanding voice. “I thought you’d never open the window.”

And there stood Samantha sporting the same pigtails and nightgown she wore the night she disappeared. Three months and nothing bad changed. Not a hair on her head out of place.

“Samantha?” Fox asked, incredulously. “You came back!”

“Of course I did! Did you think I would stay away forever? Now help me up! It’s cold out here.”

Teena’s muffled sobs rose behind him and Fox reached down to hoist his sister through the window. Samantha tumbled to the floor of his room. He slammed the window shut.

Fox stared at Samantha, who shivered in her nightgown, her smiling face pale and ghostly. Not believing his luck, he wrapped his arms around his sister and held on tightly. In a few minutes he’d walk into his parents’ room with Samantha.

Then his mom would stop crying. His dad would stop yelling. They would be whole again.

But the tighter he held onto his sister, the more he could feel her slipping away, vanishing slowly from his grasp into thin air.

“No, Samantha, don’t go,” he pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut. “Don’t go. Stay with me. We’ll be a family again. Don’t go don’t godon’tgodon’tgo…”

“Mulder.”

“Please don’t go.”

“I’m right here, Mulder,” Scully soothed.

But he didn’t want Scully right now. He needed to hold on to Samantha. She couldn’t disappear. Not again. He just got her back! She would stay and he would take her to their parents and they would be happy again.

“Mulder,” Scully said more forcefully. “It’s ok. I’m here.”

When Mulder’s eyes opened, his sister was gone and he was left holding onto a pillow. Scully sat beside him on the bed in the dark, rubbing his arm.

“Sorry,” he weakly managed.

“I’m here,” she reassured, her warm breath a whisper on his cheek.

“Thank you,” he muttered, settling back into the bed, Scully stroking his arm and back.

They stay like that for a long time, letting the black night soothe their scars.

“You’re not to blame for any of it,” she told him. “What happened to Samantha.”

Mulder let out a sigh. “Then why does it feel like it is? Even after so much time has passed.”

“I don’t know, but it’s not your fault. None of it.”

#fictober23 #the x-files #the x files #dana scully #fox mulder #thexfiles #scully #mulder #txf #light angst #samantha mulder #mulder and his messed up family

35 notes · View notes

fine-nephrit · 4 months

Text

🥏 TXF Fic Rec #10: "The Common Fate of All Things Rare" by Aloysia Virgata & Scarlet Baldy

Today’s fic has several of my favorite things in fics: the angst from the fallout in Never Again and the looming cancer arc in the background, well-done jealousy and UST, a lovely written and memorable OC, excellent prose, and clever lines.

It also boasts an impressive, meaty case file that has an ass-kicking profiler!Mulder and pathologist!Scully, intricate plotting, red herrings, twists, and turns like a bona fide mystery novel.

The story nestles itself nicely in the gap between the end scene of Never Again and the beginning of Memonto Mori. Oh, don’t miss the hilarious gag reel after the ending.

---

🥏 The Common Fate of All Things Rare by Aloysia Virgata (@aloysiavirgata) and Scarlet Baldy (@badforthefish)

Length: Novella, 46,000+ words Season: season 4, episode 4x13 Never Again Relationship(s): M/S UST to RST Tags: Casefile, Episode-related, Cancer arc, Angst, Smut, Jealousy, Torture, Scully-POV, Mulder-POV Rating: Mature/R

24 notes · View notes