Night Giving Off Flames by Jesemie's Evil Twin (PG-13)

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE X FILES
Pairing: Mulder/Scully
Genre: Post-col, angst
Author on LJ: jeviltwin, jetfic
Author website: http://www.alanna.net/JET/

Why this must be read: There are very few writers with a voice as distinctive and as lovely as JET's. Here's a bit of not-quite-random description:

This morning he returns from the cold damp backyard with a twiggy basket full of leaves that look as though they might be radioactive - neon colors, oranges and reds and yellows so unreal and bright it's as though they've been invented just this year for this autumn. He wonders idly if they'd glow in the dark if he held them under electric light for a few minutes, and in his mind's eye he pictures the entire forest shimmering phosphorescent in moonshine.

This particular story takes place after colonization has succeeded: Mulder is in hiding, and Scully's been captured by the shapeshifting aliens who continue the Consortium's fondness for experiments in the form of torture, torture in the form of experiments. That's the setup: the story is about the aftermath. About trauma, and identity, and of course that old X Files staple, trust. In the end, JET takes a hoary old chestnut of XF dialogue, immediately identifiable from a hundred episodes and a thousand fanfics, and redefines it as the recognition of grace.

"Night Giving Off Flames"