A couple of flashlights relieved the gloom of the room and I was finally able to see the man I had only glimpsed in shadow thus far. The demons that drove him weren’t anywhere near as visible but I could still catch glimpses of them, and there was something about the raw, hungry light of his eyes that hinted at some great tragedy whose weight he still lived under – maybe more than one.  Even when he was still, this man exuded an unceasing restlessness that made me tired to watch him. Most of all, I could not help but feel an intense wave of sympathy for someone who lived in the shadow of a darkness that seemed to have ravaged his very soul. It was impossible not to feel his pain and to want, somehow, to be able to heal it. The danger I sensed was still real, but I saw it was not directed at me but towards himself. Yes he was dangerous, but in the same way a moth is dangerous as it flies into the flame – wild, uncontrolled, but hurting only itself, seemingly oblivious to its own pain as it repeatedly flings itself towards its own wanton destruction.

Extract from World's Child,by Xanthe

Title: World's Child

Author: Xanthe

Rating: R for male/male romantic interest (Skinner/Mulder) There is no graphic sex in this story but there is a long, slow burning romantic slash element.

Feedback: Yes please!!! The friendly variety is always welcomed at xanthe@xanthe.org and as this story is such a long monster and also somewhat more complex than usual, I'd love to know what you thought of it.

Length: Novel length. 604KB overall. Divided into four books: Uncle Walter, Father, Saoshyant, and Mother. Available for download as html files, zipped files or plain text files (see below)

Category: Story, Romance, Angst

Keywords: William fic, Mulder/Skinner slash, MSR, Post Colonisation, Doggett/Reyes

Summary: A small boy struggles to make sense of his destiny and his unusual abilities in a world full of danger.

Dedication: This is my personal homage to The X Files now that the show is over. I think it's also the last time I'll ever try and make sense of canon! I wanted to draw in lots of elements that I loved from the show and give it a fitting farewell. It's first and foremost a post-colonisation story, but it has a strong genfic element too, concerning William. It's very much a slash love story about Mulder and Skinner, but there are also allusions to MSR, a little Doggett/Reyes romance, and even a very small smidgeon of Marita/Alex interaction. The Lone Gunmen, CSM, Samantha Mulder, Luke Doggett, Emily - they're all in this story. I tried to make sense of the 9 seasons of The X Files, to draw together as much of canon as I could, particularly focussing on Season 9 eps like William, and The Truth to produce something that made some sense of my viewing experience, and also, hopefully, to do justice to the many characters I came to love during those 9 years. Yes, the show declined in its later seasons and I'm left feeling it could have been so much more than it was, but, like the girl in the nursery rhyme, when it was good, it was *very*, *very* good.

Thank you: To Phoebe first and foremost for the most fantastic, wonderful, helpful and insightful beta. She really went over and above the call of duty on this one and this story is vastly the more enriched for the time and attention she lavished on it, and most of all for her superb eye for detail.

Thanks also to dot, for fabulous feedback, practical help, research re pronunciation <g> and for her unstinting encouragement to get this huge monster of a story done.