Title: He Belongs to Me
Chapter: Ten – Open Your Eyes
Summary: Post-Truth – Mulder claims to have found a way to save anyone who is willing to listen from the upcoming alien invasion – but things do not go according to plan. Light MSR, set mostly in England.
Note: I really love this chapter, I think it's my favorite out of the whole fic. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files or any characters in the X-Files. All I own is the plot and Mr. Stein.
Archive: It'd be an honor. Truly emotional. Just contact me and I'll most likely give you permission.
---------------------
NOVEMBER 13, 2003 CANARY WARF, LONDON, ENGLAND 1:55 AM
"I will shoot." The words came not from the red-head, but from the man at the foot of her adversary's feet, previously unconscious. He had his own gun to his head, and with a chilling resonance clicked the hammer into place. All it would take now was the pull of a finger, and all the government's plans would come crashing down around them.
The man with the cigarette merely chuckled at the display, and the thug imitated his superior, not wanting to get on the wrong side.
"No you won't. You couldn't do that to the girl." His words were spoken with chilling calmness, as if he didn't care what happened here tonight. He probably didn't.
The thug delivered another kick to the former agent for good measure, who doubled over but didn't relinquish his weapon.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH HIM!"
The word "touch" was emphasized with an earsplitting crack and the thug crumpled to the floor, moaning, a bullet lodged in his stomach.
Now it was Scully's turn to speak calmly, but hers was an intense calm, the calm of someone who had been pushed too far and would now stop at nothing to exact her revenge. She began to walk forward slowly, her body trembling not just with fatigue but with rage, pure, undulated rage, her gun fixed on the man whom she detested so strongly.
"I am sick and tired of your games, your entire government and their secret plots. You have fed us exactly what we needed for the past decade to further your end, the very end we sought to expose. We have been violated and we have been lied to, cheated a thousand times over, and all our work has become nothing more than a joke, and if not a joke it has been destroyed. And now, when we finally learn the truth, that we only have nine years left to live, you come along and mess with our minds a little more, push us and manipulate us and use us just like you always have and WHY? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE! We never did anything to you! We just wanted to find the truth, we just wanted to live, in peace, knowing what was to happen and savoring our final moments. And now you want to take away the ONE thing that I need more than anything in the world and use him just as you always have. And I won't have it! HE BELONGS TO ME!"
She was now up at point-blank range and raised the shaking gun to the man's head. He still appeared unperturbed by the display, detached, somehow.
"Go ahead. Shoot me. Stain your hands with my blood."
"I will not hesitate," she whispered. "I have nothing else to gain from you."
"But if you kill me, will not the government be forced to take drastic action? Will not you be hunted down and committed to a life of criminality, doomed to be a fugitive?" He took a long puff on his cigarette, billowing smoke out from betwixt his lips.
"Where we go, you will not find us."
"How can you be so sure?" Another puff.
"Because I know the truth, and I know how to save you from it. Isn't that what you want? You lead us on this crusade so that you might find a way to save yourselves because you couldn't support yourselves, because there was a traitor in your midst who set all your plans crumbling?"
The man said nothing, only took another puff of his cigarette.
"You wouldn't kill me, or Mulder. You wouldn't take the risk that you and your filthy government pigs wouldn't be able to discover a way to save your sorry asses. And you wouldn't do anything that might jeopardize that – you wouldn't force us underground. Because we can go where no one will ever find us. We've done it before and we'll do it again."
"So then shoot, if you will. What's stopping you? Why are you holding back?"
"Because you don't deserve to die. You need to live with what you've done, the acts of injustice you have committed not just against our species but others, against Extraterrestrial Biological Entities."
She stared at him for several moments before speaking again. "We're going to leave now, and we're going to leave unhindered. And if you so much as blink I will shoot you. Not anywhere lethal, but trust me – you will be in a great deal of pain and severely incapacitated."
Without putting her gun on safety she turned to her partner, assessing his injuries with the objectiveness of the doctor she was. Slipping her arm beneath his, she somehow managed to push him to his feet, though the effort was more than she should have been able to accomplish. Ah, the blessed effects of adrenaline.
Stumbling to the door, they slipped out of the condemned building, and Mulder was deposited in the back seat of the car before Scully drove them both to the hospital.
-----------------2----------------
Scully was dozing in the chair at Mulder's bedside, catching up on sleep she'd been deprived of for far too long. The stress had been another thing entirely, and her explosion at Cigarette Smoking Man, not to mention news of her mother's death. But in her dreams, she could almost see the cure, see it as a sandcastle just formed but now eroding and if she could only just piece together what it would once look like she would have it...
She tossed her head, fingers instinctively curling around Mulder's, limp in her hand. What was it? What was the cure?
----------------------3---------------------
"Mom? Mom?" Scully squinted into the white haze, straining to determine if the woman standing before her was indeed her mother.
"Mom, is that you?"
"Ssshh, Dana, it's all right."
"Mom, Mom, what did they do to you, are you all right? Mom?"
"It's all right, Dana, it really is – he saved me, Dana, he helped me to move on before it was too late."
"Mom, Mom, I don't understand. Why did you have to die?" Tears fell down her cheeks in unashamed streams, eyes round and innocent like a child's. "Why did you have to leave me?"
"Dana – there are those who would have taken what I needed to move on, would have taken my anchor from me, and without that anchor I'd not have been able to pass."
"Mom, what are you talking about...? I don't understand, help me to understand - "
"Dana, Dana, you have to figure it out for yourself, if you don't the truth won't do you a bit of good. You already have everything you need – you just need to open your eyes."
"But Mom - "
"I have to go, Dana." She flashed a lop-sided grin. "Your father is waiting for me."
------------------4-------------------
Mulder opened his eyes blearily, straining to see, which resulted in double vision and a sudden bout of nausea. Fortunately, he had nothing to vomit.
"Scully?"
She started awake, wiping her face and eyes. Was she – was she crying? His vision settled and he could see no trace of tears, but that didn't mean anything.
"Hey, Mulder, how are you feeling?"
"Like I was shot, hit by a truck, and then run over by a street sweeper."
She chuckled and Mulder smiled, glad to see her laughing after so long without it.
"Although, Scully, I am quite curious as to how I belong to you." He smiled as much as he could, given the circumstances, knowing full well it was asymmetrical.
Scully was silent for a moment, trying to formulate an acceptable response when it hit her that was she said didn't have to be acceptable. They'd just been through hell and back for each other and they were still beating around the bush, just as they always had. And that was when the sandcastle came into view, came into focus. An anchor. Someone or something to keep you stable, something that could hold you no matter what, no matter how bad the seas or the storms. Someone or something that even after death had such a hold on you that you could be reborn, live on, in any form, and still be uniquely you.
She grinned, a full smile, one she hadn't worn very often as of late.
"You're my anchor – I really do know the cure, Mulder. I know it and I think you know it, too, you just have to open your eyes."
"I think that this experience has already opened them for me," he spoke softly, eyes staring at the wall behind her before hesitantly sliding to hers.
He broke into a smile and they both laughed, let out all the stress and sorrow and let the barriers crumble, let the river flow unhindered, let their laughter carry it all away.
-----------------------5---------------------
He stepped into the meadow, more than glad to be out of London and into the fresh English countryside. It had been so long since he could be in touch with the nature of this planet, a nature that would probably be permanently soiled in the coming invasion. But now he was content to simply stand and enjoy it, breathe in the fresh air, let his worries melt away.
The field was bathed in silver, a crescent hanging with the starts against the fall of night. He allowed his form to shift fully into its natural state, shedding his clothing and stepping from it and into the field, eyes closed and raised to the sky.
Soon now...soon.
A breeze stirred the grasses and washed over him, a lover's touch.
He opened his eyes, black orbs staring into an even greater black as they searched for a ship. It didn't take long before it hovered into view, and he was soon bathed in a light much purer than that of the moon. He surrendered himself to the light, let it carry him upwards and into the great piece of metal, let it take him even closer to home.
For home was where he longed to be.
----------------------------End He Belongs to Me--------------------------
That's right everyone, it's finished, and I worked my butt off (though happily, I must add) to bring it to you! I hope you few readers enjoyed reading this, I know I certainly enjoyed writing it – I love it when everything comes together so perfectly. I will probably be going through the chapters and fixing grammatical and spelling errors sometime in the near future, so that you can read it and it will make more sense! THANK YOU!
Word Count: 1,704
Chapter: Ten – Open Your Eyes
Summary: Post-Truth – Mulder claims to have found a way to save anyone who is willing to listen from the upcoming alien invasion – but things do not go according to plan. Light MSR, set mostly in England.
Note: I really love this chapter, I think it's my favorite out of the whole fic. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files or any characters in the X-Files. All I own is the plot and Mr. Stein.
Archive: It'd be an honor. Truly emotional. Just contact me and I'll most likely give you permission.
---------------------
NOVEMBER 13, 2003 CANARY WARF, LONDON, ENGLAND 1:55 AM
"I will shoot." The words came not from the red-head, but from the man at the foot of her adversary's feet, previously unconscious. He had his own gun to his head, and with a chilling resonance clicked the hammer into place. All it would take now was the pull of a finger, and all the government's plans would come crashing down around them.
The man with the cigarette merely chuckled at the display, and the thug imitated his superior, not wanting to get on the wrong side.
"No you won't. You couldn't do that to the girl." His words were spoken with chilling calmness, as if he didn't care what happened here tonight. He probably didn't.
The thug delivered another kick to the former agent for good measure, who doubled over but didn't relinquish his weapon.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH HIM!"
The word "touch" was emphasized with an earsplitting crack and the thug crumpled to the floor, moaning, a bullet lodged in his stomach.
Now it was Scully's turn to speak calmly, but hers was an intense calm, the calm of someone who had been pushed too far and would now stop at nothing to exact her revenge. She began to walk forward slowly, her body trembling not just with fatigue but with rage, pure, undulated rage, her gun fixed on the man whom she detested so strongly.
"I am sick and tired of your games, your entire government and their secret plots. You have fed us exactly what we needed for the past decade to further your end, the very end we sought to expose. We have been violated and we have been lied to, cheated a thousand times over, and all our work has become nothing more than a joke, and if not a joke it has been destroyed. And now, when we finally learn the truth, that we only have nine years left to live, you come along and mess with our minds a little more, push us and manipulate us and use us just like you always have and WHY? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE! We never did anything to you! We just wanted to find the truth, we just wanted to live, in peace, knowing what was to happen and savoring our final moments. And now you want to take away the ONE thing that I need more than anything in the world and use him just as you always have. And I won't have it! HE BELONGS TO ME!"
She was now up at point-blank range and raised the shaking gun to the man's head. He still appeared unperturbed by the display, detached, somehow.
"Go ahead. Shoot me. Stain your hands with my blood."
"I will not hesitate," she whispered. "I have nothing else to gain from you."
"But if you kill me, will not the government be forced to take drastic action? Will not you be hunted down and committed to a life of criminality, doomed to be a fugitive?" He took a long puff on his cigarette, billowing smoke out from betwixt his lips.
"Where we go, you will not find us."
"How can you be so sure?" Another puff.
"Because I know the truth, and I know how to save you from it. Isn't that what you want? You lead us on this crusade so that you might find a way to save yourselves because you couldn't support yourselves, because there was a traitor in your midst who set all your plans crumbling?"
The man said nothing, only took another puff of his cigarette.
"You wouldn't kill me, or Mulder. You wouldn't take the risk that you and your filthy government pigs wouldn't be able to discover a way to save your sorry asses. And you wouldn't do anything that might jeopardize that – you wouldn't force us underground. Because we can go where no one will ever find us. We've done it before and we'll do it again."
"So then shoot, if you will. What's stopping you? Why are you holding back?"
"Because you don't deserve to die. You need to live with what you've done, the acts of injustice you have committed not just against our species but others, against Extraterrestrial Biological Entities."
She stared at him for several moments before speaking again. "We're going to leave now, and we're going to leave unhindered. And if you so much as blink I will shoot you. Not anywhere lethal, but trust me – you will be in a great deal of pain and severely incapacitated."
Without putting her gun on safety she turned to her partner, assessing his injuries with the objectiveness of the doctor she was. Slipping her arm beneath his, she somehow managed to push him to his feet, though the effort was more than she should have been able to accomplish. Ah, the blessed effects of adrenaline.
Stumbling to the door, they slipped out of the condemned building, and Mulder was deposited in the back seat of the car before Scully drove them both to the hospital.
-----------------2----------------
Scully was dozing in the chair at Mulder's bedside, catching up on sleep she'd been deprived of for far too long. The stress had been another thing entirely, and her explosion at Cigarette Smoking Man, not to mention news of her mother's death. But in her dreams, she could almost see the cure, see it as a sandcastle just formed but now eroding and if she could only just piece together what it would once look like she would have it...
She tossed her head, fingers instinctively curling around Mulder's, limp in her hand. What was it? What was the cure?
----------------------3---------------------
"Mom? Mom?" Scully squinted into the white haze, straining to determine if the woman standing before her was indeed her mother.
"Mom, is that you?"
"Ssshh, Dana, it's all right."
"Mom, Mom, what did they do to you, are you all right? Mom?"
"It's all right, Dana, it really is – he saved me, Dana, he helped me to move on before it was too late."
"Mom, Mom, I don't understand. Why did you have to die?" Tears fell down her cheeks in unashamed streams, eyes round and innocent like a child's. "Why did you have to leave me?"
"Dana – there are those who would have taken what I needed to move on, would have taken my anchor from me, and without that anchor I'd not have been able to pass."
"Mom, what are you talking about...? I don't understand, help me to understand - "
"Dana, Dana, you have to figure it out for yourself, if you don't the truth won't do you a bit of good. You already have everything you need – you just need to open your eyes."
"But Mom - "
"I have to go, Dana." She flashed a lop-sided grin. "Your father is waiting for me."
------------------4-------------------
Mulder opened his eyes blearily, straining to see, which resulted in double vision and a sudden bout of nausea. Fortunately, he had nothing to vomit.
"Scully?"
She started awake, wiping her face and eyes. Was she – was she crying? His vision settled and he could see no trace of tears, but that didn't mean anything.
"Hey, Mulder, how are you feeling?"
"Like I was shot, hit by a truck, and then run over by a street sweeper."
She chuckled and Mulder smiled, glad to see her laughing after so long without it.
"Although, Scully, I am quite curious as to how I belong to you." He smiled as much as he could, given the circumstances, knowing full well it was asymmetrical.
Scully was silent for a moment, trying to formulate an acceptable response when it hit her that was she said didn't have to be acceptable. They'd just been through hell and back for each other and they were still beating around the bush, just as they always had. And that was when the sandcastle came into view, came into focus. An anchor. Someone or something to keep you stable, something that could hold you no matter what, no matter how bad the seas or the storms. Someone or something that even after death had such a hold on you that you could be reborn, live on, in any form, and still be uniquely you.
She grinned, a full smile, one she hadn't worn very often as of late.
"You're my anchor – I really do know the cure, Mulder. I know it and I think you know it, too, you just have to open your eyes."
"I think that this experience has already opened them for me," he spoke softly, eyes staring at the wall behind her before hesitantly sliding to hers.
He broke into a smile and they both laughed, let out all the stress and sorrow and let the barriers crumble, let the river flow unhindered, let their laughter carry it all away.
-----------------------5---------------------
He stepped into the meadow, more than glad to be out of London and into the fresh English countryside. It had been so long since he could be in touch with the nature of this planet, a nature that would probably be permanently soiled in the coming invasion. But now he was content to simply stand and enjoy it, breathe in the fresh air, let his worries melt away.
The field was bathed in silver, a crescent hanging with the starts against the fall of night. He allowed his form to shift fully into its natural state, shedding his clothing and stepping from it and into the field, eyes closed and raised to the sky.
Soon now...soon.
A breeze stirred the grasses and washed over him, a lover's touch.
He opened his eyes, black orbs staring into an even greater black as they searched for a ship. It didn't take long before it hovered into view, and he was soon bathed in a light much purer than that of the moon. He surrendered himself to the light, let it carry him upwards and into the great piece of metal, let it take him even closer to home.
For home was where he longed to be.
----------------------------End He Belongs to Me--------------------------
That's right everyone, it's finished, and I worked my butt off (though happily, I must add) to bring it to you! I hope you few readers enjoyed reading this, I know I certainly enjoyed writing it – I love it when everything comes together so perfectly. I will probably be going through the chapters and fixing grammatical and spelling errors sometime in the near future, so that you can read it and it will make more sense! THANK YOU!
Word Count: 1,704