FK Fanfic: "Billets Doux"

[brightknightie]

This LJ retrospective on my FK fanfiction now comes to "Billets Doux," which is one of my few stories that have never yet appeared on FKFic-L, and one of a handful to which no one has ever responded.  I wrote it in the winter of 1996, and a friend kindly recruited it for the zine Tojours Lacroix, which came out in 1999.

There isn't much to "Billets Doux," beyond a neglected line of "Fallen Idol" -- Nick says Fleur wrote to him -- but while I'm inclined to make light of it, eleven years out, and supposedly long recovered from my LC phase, well . . . re-reading the story tonight brought tears to my eyes.  If it never pleases anyone else, I'm still I'm glad I wrote it.

	•	Title:	"Billets Doux"
	•	Length:	~1,200 words
	•	Date:	Published in the charity fanzine Tojours Lacroix (1999)
	•	Rating:	G
	•	Summary:	Lacroix muses on his loss of Fleur and how it led to his loss of Nick.
	•	Setting:	Indeterminate, looking back at 1229-1247 from many centuries later
	•	Characters:	Lacroix, Nick, Fleur
	•	Quotation:	"He is what is left to me of her, and his hatred is what is left to me of himself."

Comments

[thefruitbat]

Just stumbled upon this story and it moved me deeply. I always felt so sad for both of them.

[brightknightie]

Oh, my! Thank you very much for reading, and thank you for telling me! I'm glad that the piece had something to say to you.

I haven't thought of this vintage 1999 piece in a long time, and I had completely forgotten that these old journal posts still link to my old fan website, instead of to my stories on the AO3. I should take the time to redirect them.

[thefruitbat]

I've read some of your Fleur/Lacroix stories so far, and I love how you write them. Reading in this one, that he beat himself up about not arriving earlier almost brought tears to my eyes.

[brightknightie]

Thank you!

I've been very fond of Nick's sister since I first saw "Be My Valentine." How I've expressed that fondness has developed a lot through the decades since -- especially as I've learned much more proper academic history of the period, from architecture to agriculture to economics -- but it's important to me that she's always brave, curious, and intelligent by the parameters of the society in which she's operating.