Summary: The End. It's all over. What will happen next?
Spoilers: basically the whole series...whatever else I decide to throw in..
The End
She stood frozen in time and space, her intense blue eyes lost in the sight before her. She couldn't help but stay lost in the blinding lights that covered her from atop the hill. What had taken seven long, hard, and dangerous years for them to build had all come apart in a mere week. Everything that she had so assiduously protected - her scientific beliefs, her skepticism, her guarded emotions - was gone, blown like dust in the wind by what she now knew to be the truth.
Proof. An entire career based on a single, elusive word. And now they could have it. Mulder had tried so hard to get the panel at the FBI to believe him. After they had closed the X-Files for the third time he had taken his own measure to get what he needed. They had acquired all the technology and instruments that he could get their hands on. He had stolen, and she had helped him, partners to the bitter end. He had been working so hard - neither of them had slept in days. Couldn't. The intercepted transmission had called for immediate action. In days, everything that had held them back for so long was destroyed, including one Smoking Man, and one lie. They had learned the truth about Samantha. She had been dead for twelve years, the victim of repeated experimentation and abuse. He hadn't even changed expression when they had told him, shrugging it off with a face of stone. But she knew him better, most likely better than he knew himself. That had been a rough night, for both of them, but they had pulled through, relying on the strength that they gained from each other. He finally had his truth, and she the knowledge that he would be all right.
This was their last chance to prove that they hadn't wasted their lives, and that the ones taken for the sake of the quest weren't in vain. There was to be a meeting here tonight, a meeting between business associates. They had already taken care of one end, but the struggle lay in finding the other. The Syndicate was dead, having been burned alive by the rebels. The only remaining officials had been taken care of. This meeting would not end in another agreement. No more games would be played with the lives of millions. This meeting would finally exonerate them from the harsh label of illegitimacy and insanity that had plagued them for so long. They would have their proof, and with it their absolution.
She couldn't comprehend the images the played in her eyes. She was late, but not that late. Something was wrong. She could feel it in the heat that rushed to her face as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
"Mulder!" she screamed, running up the hill, her .38 pulled and ready.
Suddenly, two strong hands grabbed her from behind, pulling her into a copse of bushes, concealing her with himself.
"Scully...it's all wrong..." he whispered, his face pale, his hands trembling.
She looked back to the scene before them and understood him in an instant. The bright lights weren't coming from an alien craft, but a truck's headlights, washing over the figures that spilled systematically out of the back. The were armed with strange weapons, ones that she had never seen before, yet seemed familiar. One turned, his disfigured face apparent in the beam of the headlights.
"The rebels," she said softly, an epiphany in itself.
He nodded, placing a hand to his aching head. He didn't want to think anymore. He felt like giving up. She placed a small, comforting hand on his own, squeezing it gently. Her eyes told him everything.
"Ok," he said simply, knowing that they would make it through this.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake, sending violent shocks to where they sat, crouch beneath the bushes. A deafening roar tore through the surrounding trees and blew back the branches. Something was coming. Something very large.
"Mulder!" she cried out, watching him walk, dazed, towards the blinding lights of the object moving in the air above them.
He couldn't hear her. He could only move forward as the craft hovered above the rebels. There was mass confusion as the rebels realized their impending doom. They weren't going to complete their mission after all. They were going to be destroyed. And Mulder was standing among them.
"Mulder, no!" she cried, running out towards him as the craft above penetrated the earth with searing light.
She reached him just as the earth began to shake once more. He looked up, realizing what was happening and gripping her hand. He looked in her eyes and she saw everything that he had never expressed. A tear rolled down her cheek. He wiped it away with his hand, holding up her chin. A violent sound and shaking threw them to the ground. They saw each other and then nothing at all.
They woke at the same time, their bodies aching and heads spinning. They sat in silence as they tried to piece together what all had happened. There was nothing left. All around them was emptiness - a clearing in the midst of the trees. There were no bodies, no fallen weapons, no evidence. He ran about frantically, searching for something. Anything..
"Mulder," she said simply, knowing that the tone of her voice said it all.
He approached where she stood crouched down by the trees. She swept her hand over what she had found, motioning for him to take a look. The instruments. They were all there. Nothing had been touched. It was as if the rebels had protected it, their last means of triumph. He looked up, meeting her eyes.
"This is all we need, Scully," he said softly, his eyes burning with relief.
She nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder as they stood and contemplated the future.
"And Frohike says that the only thing that didn't pick up was the first monitor," he continued, kneeling next to the couch where Scully had laid down. "It's all there, Scully. Everything." He smiled, not able to contain the sheer satisfaction that he felt for the first time in a long while.
She returned his smile, sitting up slightly. He had told her about all of the recordings, the data, the videotapes. Everything was finally falling into place for him. She looked down suddenly, finding her voice.
"Mulder...I..I'm sorry that I never believed you. You...you were right," she said simply, looking up to meet his hazel eyes. He didn't speak. "So," she continued, swinging her legs around to sit up, "What are you going to do now?"
Mulder looked into her crystal eyes and did what he had been wanting to do for seven years. He suddenly pulled her to him, kissing her passionately. Startled, she raised her eyebrows before melting in his arms. He rested his forehead against her own, holding her tightly as he rocked back and forth.
"Whatever we want to, Scully," he whispered into her ear. "Whatever we want to."
The End