Story 221: "In a Dark Time" by eliade

[wendelah1]

"In a Dark Time" by eliade is one of the first Mulder/Krycek stories I read, and it's still one of my all-time favorite XF fics, in any genre. It fulfills every requirement of mine for good M/K: it's set during season two, prior to Scully's abduction, it's by turns violent, twisted and passionate—and so is the sex. If you haven't watched "Sleepless," "Duane Barry" and "Ascension" recently, this story will let you see the episodes in an entirely different light. I have reread this compelling story many times, because it is just that good.

The link is to her X-Files fic page, way-backed; the story links are on the right. You can also find this at the Basement but I believe this is a more recent version, plus it includes a unfinished sequel.

The X-Files fanfic of Anna S

You can try sending feedback to the author via her LiveJournal address. Please let us know what you think of the story. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

Comments

Part One

[wendelah1]

Well, I think we are just about diametrically opposed when it comes to our reactions to this story, on every level. Since you disliked it so much, I am sorry to have recommended it to you, but I appreciate your candid responses. I hope it's okay for me to respond with equal candor.

She writes realistically, with brutal, coarse descriptions and dialouges. I know it is what some people look for in fiction, but I'm afraid I'm one of them. I'm not a fan of overly sweet, utopic, domestic bliss in fiction either, but some sort of a balance between the two. Around the level of the show, actually. Hard times mixed with good ones. Even if something is drastic, it's never shown in too drastic way. Interactions are often violent, but rarely crude.

She is a realistic writer. eliade spends a lot of time carefully filling in the blanks in "Sleepless," getting us into the heads of the characters. However, I don't think it's her style (her sentences, story structure and vocabulary) that you're objecting to so much as her content. When you refer to the interactions that you find crude and violent, you aren't specific but since most of their non sex scenes are centered around solving the case and so much of that dialog is taken straight from the episode itself, I am assuming you must mean the sex scenes. This is a matter of taste, so there isn't much I can say to defend them. If it's not the sex scenes, I'm at a loss. You'll have to give examples.

Perhaps it's easier to get them together, when Alex is still young and as innocent as we can get him, perhaps it's more believable as well, but I hate how always the future we already know of hangs over their heads. For some reason I prefer, when it's all out in the open and they have to get through it (yes, I'm a sucker for a happy ending, rare and unbelievable as they are), than when it's this darkness they're heading towards to.

Personally, I find the sex scenes between the two men believable and compelling. By comparison, I find most Mulder/Krycek stories that feature romance with a happy ending not at all credible, even more so if they are set later in the series. But that's okay. You love the pairing, you ship the pairing, so you want to read happy endings. You have different taste in sex scenes. Fair enough.

On the other hand, I love the abduction arc, I love the drama and the conflict and the messiness eliade shows us, a story of two lovers who are drawn together by passion, and who are separated, not by fate, but by the choices they've made. Yes, it's dark but I think this story is an honest, accurate portrait of both men, in a sexual, intellectual and emotional relationship that's completely consistent with who they appear to be at this point in the series. YMMV.