crack_van | Pillar of Salt by Nascent (R)

Fandom: THE X-FILES
Pairing/Characters: Fox Mulder | Dana Scully
Length: novella
Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: Gossamer
Why this must be read:

Years ago, when I first began reading XF fanfic, I had heard of Nascent via this site, actually, and this story, which was recced by Punk back in 2004. But the links were broken. Eventually, I found a copy of "Pillar of Salt" archived--somewhere else--and got to read it. I loved it. Her Scully sounded just like the one on screen, and her Mulder did, too. Their relationship as portrayed by Nascent was just as codependent as the canon version. She wasn't trying to rewrite canon, she was enlarging it and adding to it! I had to have more. Because she'd taken down her website, it was a tough search.

But in 2011, Nascent archived some of her fanfic at Gossamer. This is particularly significant for "Pillar of Salt" because she rewrote an important section.

In this story, Mulder invites Scully away for a weekend under false pretenses. What can I say--it's Mulder being Mulder. I don't want to give anything away but let's just say the vacation does not go as expected--for either of them. Nascent is particularly good at integrating the relationship story into a well-plotted X-File. From the prologue:

Between the chess game and the argument, I'd asked him again: "So you brought me up here just to talk to this paranormal scientist?"

"Yeah," he'd said, staring into the fire, again unable to meet my eyes.

I knew he was lying; I just didn't know how big a lie it was.

Thank you, Nascent.

Read "Pillar of Salt" at Nascent's Page at Gossamer by scrolling to the story.