Blood and Breath

Fanfiction
Title:	Blood and Breath
Author(s):	RivkaT
Date(s):	26 Oct 1997
Length:	22980 words
Genre(s):	het
Fandom(s):	The X-Files
Relationship(s):
External Links:	archived copy AO3
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Blood and Breath is a Scully/Mulder, Scully/Skinner story by RivkaT.

Reactions and Reviews

I remember the day Rivka first posted to the XF lists. Back then, we didn't have a clue who RivkaT was, but we learned. Oh, we learned. If a fic's got her name on it, it'll be smart, competent, and most likely painful. Rivka writes angst like a kick to the head, and her Mulder/Scully relationships are never easy and always the opposite of romantic. Here she takes on the season four mytharc, with all the bees, shapeshifters, and conspiracies a girl could want. This is a Scully story with lots of science and angst. It starts post-Gethsemane, when she's dying, and Mulder's dead.

I have much love for “Blood and Breath.” Like all of the fic posted during the hiatus between the fourth and fifth seasons, it does go AU very quickly after resolving the cliff-hanger of “Gethsemane.” It’s both darker than canon and more optimistic, oddly enough. “Blood and Breath” is a Scully-centric story, and I love the way Rivkat writes Scully. Her fic is about how much it takes to break Scully, what she is willing to do to live without unbearable pain, and what reward that self-knowledge finally brings her.