Story 170: "Certitude" by Justin Glasser

[wendelah1]

This is picfic, but for that other movie, the one I at least liked a lot better. Still, for all its virtues, Fight the Future did leave a huge plot hole for the fanfiction writers to fill in: what exactly did happen after they escaped from the alien ship? How did they get from Antarctica to Washington DC and what happened in between? "Certitude" tells that story so well, I've probably reread it a half dozen times with pleasure, and recced it, well, everywhere but here.

Besides an absolutely riveting plot, Glasser give us a Mulder-and-Scully who come as close to the characters on screen as any writer before or since. In case you weren't certain of my feelings, I love this story. The link is to Mulder in Jeopardy, where it is broken into two parts, one containing sections 1-5, the other, 6-10.

Certitude Part One

Certitude Part Two

Send feedback to the author, then come back and let us know what you think. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

Comments

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

"Barring the sudden appearance of the calvary, I
guess so."

Ahahahahaha! You're a little early to be bringing in heavy-handed religious overtones, Mr. Glasser. But if you come back in a later season...

But I still felt that the emotions--as when Scully "gentled" Mulder, at some length--were a little out of touch with brutal reality.

This was the one line of Certitude I remembered over the years since I first read it. Usually that would indicate I loved the line, but in this case, even though I find it memorable, it doesn't quite work for me, probably for the reason you've expressed.

It's also a line that I think of as being distinctly 'written by a man'. I'm certainly not claiming that a woman couldn't have written that line, or that the way men write fanfic can be stereotyped. All I mean is that to me something about the light that line casts Scully in, and the light it casts Mulder in, and the way it speaks of their relationship, just seems like a more masculine form of sensitivity to me: Mulder as the noble beast, Scully as the powerfully compassionate beast tamer. It's a very striking and sensual idea, though not one that I personally resonate stongly with.