I woke up to the smell of a cigarette smoke, which I hadn't felt in a long time. Dana and I don't smoke, crossed my mind. Cancerman?!
I opened my eyes, and sure as hell he was sitting next to me. I realized that I was lying in bed, but it wasn't our bed. It was clean and soft and… My eyes hurt! There was a window and sun was shining.
Oh my God!
Sunlight. Fresh air. Clean sheets. I must have died and went to heaven. But wait, what is Cancerman doing in heaven?
"You got me worried for a second," he smiled at me: "I thought you might not make it through."
"Where am I?" I demanded: "Where is Dana?"
"I sent her back to Mulder."
"Mulder? Where is Mulder?"
"Oh, he's in Croatia, too. He got too close again, so I decided to let the two of you go before he blows my cover. I distracted him for the time that it took me to deliver Scully to his friend, Lily. I would've left you there too, but you were very sick, so I took you to this hospital instead. Scully wasn't able to cure you, but I provided her with what I could to keep you alive until I arranged for your transfer here."
"Why would you want to save my life?"
"Why not? You and I go back a long way, my friend."
"I am not your friend, Spender! What kind of a person would lock up a friend?"
"A kind of a person who wanted to keep you safe. You were a threat for the project. You came by some classified information which prompted you to start taking steps towards reopening the X files. I couldn't allow that. My associates wanted to terminate you, but that really wasn't necessary. I just needed you to disappear for a while, and I could do that best by keeping you with me in Croatia."
"Why Croatia?"
"I heard it's a lovely country. I have too many enemies back home, I had to go hiding as well."
"Why Scully? She doesn't have anything to do with the X files, for a long time now. Why did you take her too, you son of a bitch?"
"She's the brain of the X files, always has been. But that's not why. I wanted to keep her safe. She's the key for the project."
"What the fuck project are you talking about?!"
"You'll see soon enough. It's already set in motion, there's nothing you can do to prevent it, even if you had time. Which you don't, by the way. It's 2016 already, the final year. It's only the matter of weeks now."
"2016?!"
"Indeed. Happy New Year, Walter!"
With those words he put out his cigarette, gave me the last evil smile and walked away. I yelled at him to wait, but he didn't even turn around. I tried to get up, but I got so dizzy that I almost fainted.
I sighed and closed my eyes. None of what he said made sense, but that man never did make sense to me. 2016? I lost the whole 2 years! It looked like I gained my freedom back, but it came with another loss, not any less painful… I missed her already.
What was the last thing I told her? I love you like a brother? At least that's the last thing I remember telling her.
Not a sister, a brother. Siamese twins are always the same sex. That's what she became to me during our imprisonment, a vital part of me. Now I felt like a man whose hearth was removed from his chest, but somehow he remained alive, lying there terrified with the sudden emptiness in his chest and complete lack of heartbeats…
The End