norwich36

I pretty much always love Dira Sudis' stuff, but especially when she writes religious themes--I remember being particularly blown away by Until the Breaking of the Day for example, which was a fascinating Dean/Castiel story--and she's just written another amazing story exploring characterization and memory through religion: To the One I've Sinned Against. It's a post- Captain America/Winter Soldier story, exploring Winter Soldier slowly coming back to himself via confession.

Spurred by the forcefulness of that thought, he broke cover and strode quickly across the open ground to the church doors. The interior was dim, but it smelled right, like church, like safety. It smelled familiar, but he knew he had never been here before. Still, he knew this place. Sanctuary.

He felt the same sense of returning-to-base that he thought he had felt at the ends of missions, coming in to for maintenance and repair. That meant pain, and forgetting, but it was the order of things: complete the mission, and then return to base.

This might mean the same thing. Perhaps that was what was required to be reconciled.

It does a fantastic job of weaving together the past and present, as Bucky regains more and more of his memories, and it does a fantastic job not only of exploring Steve and Bucky's relationship (it's definitely a Steve/Bucky story), but also the way confession is a touchstone for them. It's one of my favorite Steve/Bucky post-movie fics (and I think I've read everything not a WIP, at this point!), and one of the best treatments of religion I remember reading in fanfic ever.

One of my biggest narrative kinks in Avengers fic is stories centering on Bruce reconciling with the Hulk, and Irreconcilable Differences does so in 130,000 words of angsty goodness. A mutant manages to split Hulk and Bruce into two separate people, and they finally come to terms with each other. This has a wonderful Hulk perspective, terrific team bonding, and a nice Tony/Bruce romance as well. I warn you, though, if this is your cup of tea it is extremely hard to put down; I think I had plans to do other things than read for six hours this afternoon!