Title: Sculleus and Muldeurydice
Author: Singing Violin
Rating: K+
Spoilers: Requiem, Per Manum, This is Not Happening
Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST. Character death.
Summary: Smoking Man offers Scully the chance to retrieve Mulder.
Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully, and the Smoking Man belong to Chris Carter and 1013. Orpheus and Eurydice belonged to the ancient Greeks, but I believe the copyright has expired, and therefore they and their story are now in the public domain.
Feedback: Please.
Archiving: Already archived in Gossamer under a different author name (Pearl) but that name was taken here so I got another one. Feel free to post anywhere.
Groggily, Agent Scully answered the door. Since Mulder had been found dead, she hadn't taken as much care as she used to with security, and had neglected to check the peephole. Why would anyone try to hurt her now that they couldn't use that against Mulder? She knew she had to protect the baby, but even that was a subject of less concern now that doubts as to that child's humanity had been placed in her mind. As she opened the door, she gasped.
"Agent Scully, so nice to see you again."
"CGB Spender," she stated coldly. "I thought you were dead."
"Perhaps I am, Agent Scully. Not everything is as it seems," the old man replied as he walked through the door. Scully noted the absence of the wheelchair in which he had resided the last time she had seen him.
"What do you want?" asked Scully.
"Agent Scully, you should be more kind to a man who has come back from the dead to help you," the smoking man retorted as he lit a cigarette.
"Please don't smoke in my apartment."
The smoking man ignored her. "Agent Scully, I have knowledge of the whereabouts of Agent Mulder."
"Agent Mulder is dead," said Scully bitterly. "Now get out of my house."
Taking another puff from his cigarette, Cancer Man pushed past her and sat down upon her couch. Sighing, she pulled out her gun. "I will shoot you. Get out."
"Go ahead, Agent Scully. You said it yourself, I am already dead."
Scully's grip tightened on the trigger. "Why are you doing this?" she whispered.
The smoking man settled himself on her couch, taking his time as he took another deep inhalation of tobacco-filled smoke. "Agent Mulder is alive, Agent Scully. I thought you would want to know that. I'll go now." However, he made no motion to get up off the couch.
Scully swore to herself and disengaged the safety. "Don't move," she said, realizing she was buying his story, and that this man was not to be trusted, but also that she had very little left to lose. Suddenly she found herself filled with frustration and anger. "Explain yourself. Now!" She was almost yelling.
The old man was still as calm as ever. "Very well, Agent Scully." He smiled vaguely. "Agent Mulder is alive but he is not well. The body you saw was not his. I cannot explain how the body was prepared to fool you, but I can tell you that it was deliberate.
The new consortium wanted you to believe him dead. I was not available to warn them that this would not have the desired effect. In any case, they have no more use for him, so you are welcome to retrieve your partner. I figured you might want him back."
Scully eyed the smoking man suspiciously. "What do you want from me?"
"Nothing, Agent Scully. I told you once that I had spent my whole life in destruction, and that I wished to redeem myself by providing something good for a change. I want to give you back your happiness. I know it is his child you are carrying. Perhaps that child will want a father."
Although surprised at his candor, Scully did not address his last comment. "I don't believe you. You lied to me before, about the disc that was supposed to contain a cure for cancer. Why should I trust you now?"
"You don't have to. I could just leave right now, and soon Mulder will really be dead, and since you all believe him to be dead already, nothing will change." Cancer Man rose from the couch.
Scully motioned with her gun for him to sit back down. He did not sit, but he stopped moving. Scully spoke then, reluctantly giving in, knowing she was risking everything she had left, but deciding that for Mulder, it was worth it. "What do I have to do?" Her voice was steady and controlled, but tears glinted in her eye.
"Come with me, Agent Scully. I will take you to him."
Scully reengaged the safety and holstered her weapon. Looking down, she whispered, "Yes. Take me to him."
Nearly ten hours later, the smoking man pulled up into the abandoned lot of a warehouse. He touched Scully's shoulder lightly, and she awoke with a jump. "He is inside, Agent Scully."
"Aren't you coming with me?"
"No, Agent Scully. I cannot continue this journey. I have taken you to him, you may do what you want. But remember this; the tests have changed his body chemistry. If you touch him before he receives medical attention, you will both die."
"What?!" Scully cried.
"I have told you everything you need to know. The rest is up to you." He handed her the keys and got out of the car.
Stunned, Scully blinked, momentarily pondering a medical explanation for the smoking man's assertion. Then, realizing she had allowed him to exit, she opened the door and drew her gun, calling "Wait!" in a futile attempt to stop the smoking man from leaving. He had disappeared.
Shaking her head, she turned around. The warehouse drew her unwilling gaze - the warehouse inside of which Mulder might be. The edifice that, according to the smoking man, held her partner as he tenaciously clung to life. Her heart was suddenly in her throat as she realized that, even if she called again, the man who had drawn her here would not return. Mulder was dying; Mulder might already be dead. She had already grieved for him, but new hope had cruelly been handed to her by a known enemy. However, if he was inside, Mulder needed her.
Keeping her gun drawn, she cautiously entered the building. It was dark, and dusty, and she suppressed a sneeze. A beam of subdued light entered from a broken window and she looked down in order to avoid stepping upon anticipated shards of glass. The floorboards squeaked under her feet, but no other sound was audible. Scully felt her heart quicken its tempo, and she realized that she was shivering slightly.
Moving along the wall, she came to a door, and warily kicked it open.
As promised, Mulder lay prone on a table, naked and strapped down. Tears welled in Scully's eyes as the silence shattered at the sound of her voice. "Mulder!"
She ran over to him and called again. "Mulder, wake up. Can you hear me?" Her breath rustled the hair upon his head, and his eyelids flickered. She sighed in relief.
"Scully?" he murmured.
"Yeah, Mulder, it's me. I'm going to take you home, Mulder. Can you walk?"
"I don't know. Not while attached to this thing." He made a sour face.
"Oh God, Mulder, let me get you out of there," Scully cried, realizing the stupidity of her earlier question. Gingerly, touching only the equipment, she released all of the fastening devices she could find.
Mulder reached out to her and she quickly moved away. He looked hurt. "Scully?"
"Mulder, I can't touch you. You're going to have to make it to the car on your own. Do you think you can?"
"I think so. Scully, why...?"
"I don't know Mulder, but I don't want to risk losing you again. I was told not to touch you, so I'm taking precautions. Okay?" Of course it wasn't okay. She bit her lip.
Mulder half-climbed, half-fell off of the table. Scully cringed but did not reach out to steady him. On all fours, Mulder stated simply, "I think I can crawl out of here, but I don't think I can walk."
Scully fought back tears as she watched him in this humiliating pose. "Good, Mulder, just a little ways. The car's not far away."
Torturously slowly, the partners made their way out of the warehouse. Mulder crawled along the floor, collapsing every so often but determinedly getting back up each time. Scully walked beside him, holding the doors open and encouraging him verbally.
As they reached the car, Scully opened the back door and urged him to climb in and lie down. Struggling, he complied, and both were relieved as he settled himself lying down, with his knees bent so as to fit lengthwise. His eyes drooped, and Scully knew he was spent.
Although Mulder woke up a few times during the trip, the partners did not converse. The silence was somehow comforting, and familiar. It also allowed Mulder to periodically drift back into blissful sleep. Not knowing where they were, Scully drove towards bigger roads until she found signs that directed her towards a highway. Once on the highway, she looked for hospital signs, and took the first exit that led to a medical facility.
Stopping in front of the emergency room entrance, she got out of the car. Mulder was asleep, so she did not pause to tell him she would be back. Entering the building, she related her story and asked for a gurney. Several EMT's wheeled one outside, and only then did she open the door and gently speak to Mulder. "Hey, Mulder, time to wake up, sleepy-head." He looked at her, and she smiled.
"I guess I have to get myself up onto that thing, right?"
"Yeah. But soon this will be over, I promise."
Mulder struggled into a sitting position and climbed up onto the gurney, which was waiting outside, rolled as close to the door as possible. The EMT's had also been instructed not to touch Mulder until a preliminary exam was performed to figure out whether the precaution was necessary, and to what extent.
As they rolled Mulder into the exam room, Scully looked down and saw that he was crying. "Thank you, Scully. For rescuing me."
Her heart broke then, and she reached out to him. Brushing a lock of hair from his forehead in a familiar gesture, she said, to herself as much as him, "You're going to be all right." Only then did she realize what she had done.
Immediately, Scully noticed Mulder's eyes glazing over, and not two seconds later, began to feel the room spin.
As her world faded around her, Scully saw an apparition. It was smoking a cigarette and laughing.
END