Rerun: "Fugue" (the series) by rivkat

[wendelah1]

This week, we're doing a rerun, while I'm waiting on a friend to finish editing her podfic of "Ingenue" or for so-kiss-me-goodbye to complete "The Lambs," whichever comes first.

Back in the day, I had a theory that "Fugue" was written as a response to complaints that the show is a deeply sexist text, with Mulder being the one who drives the plot, and Scully as his sidekick. That's not how I see the series, and it is just a theory. But there does seem to be a subtext to this fable, one that hinges on female identity and how easily women still can submerge themselves in deference to their mates' ambition and passions.

We discussed this for the first time back in 2008. Eight years seems long enough to justify a rerun of one of my personal favs. Reading this deeply affected me; in fact, the first fic I wrote was in response to "Fugue," rather than the series, and that was long before I'd heard of Remix. It remains one of my favorite stories, in this or any fandom.

Fugue (26052 words) by rivkat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dana Scully/Fox Mulder
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
Additional Tags: Amnesia, Juvenilia
Series: Part 1 of Fugue
Summary:

The DSM-IV defines fugue as travel in foreign places, often under an assumed identity.

Since our first discussion, "Fugue" has become a series, providing two more reasons to revisit the fic.

Devoutly to be wished (496 words) by rivkat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder, C.G.B. Spender
Additional Tags: Eight crazy nights
Series: Part 2 of Fugue
Summary:

The prompt: The ending of Fugue: The image of Scully shivering on that cold floor, in shock after the visit from the Smoking Man? It haunts me. Please get her up off that floor and, if possible, into a happier ending.

Variations on a Fugue (1224 words) by rivkat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
Additional Tags: Amnesia, Remix
Series: Part 3 of Fugue
Summary:

Alternate vision of Fugue, for hulamoth. Fox was the one who couldn't remember, and Dana got her memories back.

After you read the series, consider leaving feedback and/or kudos for the author. Please come back and let us know what you think. As always, the nomination post is open for your suggestions.

Comments

Re: Whew

[hooves.livejournal.com]

Did somebody say overthinking? Sounds like my jam!

I really enjoyed reading your comment, and I can't resist adding to it, or at least replying to it (whichever ends up being more accurate by the time I finish typing this). The boss stepped out for lunch and so I've a few minutes with which to, well, "waste time" (though literary merit discussions are never a waste IMO).

I felt that this piece was pretty well in character, or at least as IC as it could be considering the material with which the author had to work. Loss of memory and therefore a huge part of a person's identity makes for a difficult piece to write. I find it interesting, though, that you felt this was one of this author's more IC works.

Anyway, I enjoyed memory-returned Mulder being as you described: a wreck, paranoid, arrogant, self-centered, despairing, but also with a spark of hopefulness and a big fat tablespoon of ignorance. I got the impression throughout the series that he was pretty ignorant of his effect on other people to a certain degree, and by that I mean...he never did seem to understand how his choices affected others. In this story, for example, he's so excited about his own memories and remembering himself that he unwittingly leaves her in the dust; I don't think he was able to understand how much this hurt her. Or really even in what ways. This is definitely an instance where his psychology degree doesn't quite feel as if it fits...but again, the series never did let him break of out of his perpetual existence as a self-centered man, so in that way I guess it's quite IC/fitting.

[but RivkaT's alternate version, in which Scully gets her memories but Mulder doesn't, indicates some pretty deep trauma for the one regaining themselves completely as well]

Yes, I think this was very important. Seeing the flip side makes it easier to understand Mulder in the initial piece, I think, though Mulder existed before Scully in his work on the X-Files, and Scully comes in after the X-Files have become a thing. Because of this, it's not an equal experience, but it's not altogether different, either. Remembering all of that trauma--and having to remember it alone--would be hard. Mulder wants Scully back, Dana wants Bill back, and I think they both, deep down, want something solid and real again, having felt they had it twice (two different "lives", as themselves and their alter-egos) and lost it. The person who remembers, for example, Mulder, wants his former relationship to Scully back, and he wants Scully back, but I think having always (assuming a romantic attachment) wanted a relationship with Scully also, wants the best of both worlds: he wants his relationship to Scully and Dana to be one and the same.

But that's not something they'll ever have. He can only ever have Scully-as-Dana, and even then it's the past tense.

Anyway, I commented a bit more about their relationship and what this kind of situation does to it in my own comment, so I won't clutter this up further with that babbling. :P I want to add, however, that you made a good point with Mulder-as-Bill, and wanting in a sense to return to that persona. It was safe, he was probably, for the most part, happy...and now that he remembers he can't have anything he wants. Neither of them can. They're both left wanting things they can't have.