Story 24: "To Carthage Then I Came" by Annakovsky

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Another weird mostly-non-MSR story nominated by me. Note the warning!

Title: To Carthage Then I Came
Author: annakovsky
Rating: R
Pairings: Mulder/Samantha, Mulder/Scully, implied Scully/Doggett
WARNINGS: INCEST, more or less. SO BE AWARE.
Summary: Clones of Mulder's sister Samantha are being terminated. Mulder tries to save them.

Comments

[wendelah1]

I really like this story. I like it for its daring and original characterization of Fox Mulder. I have read so many stories where the characters of Mulder and Scully seem just like the show, except they seem to have wandered into a romance novel. It is so refreshing to read a story where the author clearly doesn't see that in the cards.

I can totally see this happening except for the part where Mulder doesn't tell Samantha she is his sister's clone. That just doesn't ring true to me. Mulder just wouldn't do that. But having done that, I do see the rest of the story playing out pretty much as written. Except, given a choice, since when does Mulder sleep in a bed, let alone with the woman he knows is his sister? Oh well.

This was a very well-written, unforgettable story. I love it enough to just hand-wave the whole characterization of Mulder as AU. I love it so much I wish I had written it. I love the last lines:

Samantha visibly relaxes, smiles again. "Oh," she says. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"Yeah," says Mulder. "I do." He reaches over and rescues the syrup from where the girls are threatening to spill it, and yes, he has a sister, she's everywhere. She's everywhere.

[memento1.livejournal.com]

A brilliant, stunning example of "be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it". It's very disturbing. Too disturbing for my tastes (I don't like unhappy-endings!), but it was brilliantly crafted and creepy.

[lightlack.livejournal.com]

I'm not usually a fan of stories that end with M and S apart, but I liked this story so much. Primarily because it's the first piece of fanfic I've read in a long time that gave me a visceral "Whoa" response. I read it and found myself grinning a little in admiration for Annakovsky, for going down this particular path, for doing something gutsy and unusual in fic and making it work. The prose is spare and light but not empty, Mulder's increasing inability to call any of the Samanthas by any names other than Samantha is both believable and really sad, and the incest-angle manages to be sufficiently creepy without being off-putting. Thanks to this comm for pointing the story out to me.