Redemption (11/26) by GeorgeHale Rating: R Feedback: Classification: Colonization/Mythology/MSR/William, post I.W.T.B. Canon. Spoilers: Left, right, & center. This is best served if you REALLY know your X-Files. Disclaimer: I wish I made this. This has been my catharsis, five years in the making. Maybe it can be one for you, too. Warning: Violence, Gratuitous employment of the 'Our little sailor' clause (swearing,) Fluff with two 'f's, Cheesy dialogue, Friendly Ghosts, Melodramatics, Plot devices, Fiji Mermen (no, not really,) Angst, Blasphemy, Dehydration via crying, Scientific Whammies, Plams, Lots & Lots & Lots of...Bees, Magical Growing Scully Cross Chain, Red Herrings. It's going to get strange and ugly before the end. ------------------------------------------------------------------ XI ------------------------------------------------------------------ "There are extraordinary men... those who must identify... comprehend, and ultimately shoulder the responsibility for not only their own existence, but their countries, and the world's as well. Your father, Captain... believed his country should look to another form of government, and he took control of that belief. So, in that respect, we view him as an extraordinary man. And we believe... we know, Captain... that it runs in the family." - General Francis, Musings of A Cigarette-Smoking Man ------------------------------------------------------------------ *Black eyes beheld him in simple curiosity from the edge of the beach. William felt he was staring at a child from some long ago ancient age. There was no real indication, just a feeling. Smiling at him, the boy turned and disappeared into the thick tall grass that gave way to jungle. Looking around and seeing no one else, William ran to catch up, curiosity piqued by the strange boy with the dark eyes. He paid no attention to the flimsy hospital gown he wore, but ran with abandon as the boy outpaced him along the slim path that wound deep into the forest. Seeing the boy crest over a hill that opened to glorious view, William tore after him only to have his shoulders grabbed as he nearly launched himself over the edge of a tall cliff that gave way to a large valley. The hands that pulled him back were not those of a boy however, but of an older man who smelled like acrid smoke. "Such fire for one so young. I really admire that about you, but my, so reckless. It bespeaks your lineage." William jolted from the man's near embrace and backed away toward the direction he had come, unsure who this character was, but sure that he could not be trusted. Tripping, he fell backwards and looked up at the man, prone. Where was the boy that had led him here? "Distrustful as well, I see. So typical. Aren't you curious to see what's down there?" William looked beyond the man to the valley below for the first time noting the series of three large stepped pyramids that segmented the distant lake in a familiar pattern he could not place. Had he been here before? A wizened hand extended down to him. "Take my hand, William. You have to take the first step."* ------------------------------------------------------------------ GREENBRIER RESORT CONGRESSIONAL BUNKER White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia February 13, 2013 4:21 p.m. *'You invite all who are burdened to come to You. In this hour of great need, touch my mind with Your wisdom, and allow Your healing hand to guide my own. Touch gently this life which You have created, now and forever. Amen.'* Scully prayed silently as the autoclave whirred through its sterilization procedure. She thought the prayer might help calm her shaking hands, but it was apparent to her that she had no solutions. There was no manual for such surgeries, and any exploratory procedure she attempted would be a shot in the dark. She had never felt so hopeless, so disconnected from her faith. She had already lost a child. How could she bear to lose another? How could God account for it? Anger at the cruelty welled up inside her and for her lack of knowledge. *Don't forsake me now.* Unsure if she was attempting to command her mind or God, she closed her eyes and began to ignore the emotional tirades battling across her mind. She needed to be calm and rational and she needed to act. Removing the instruments from the device, she placed them on a tray. If nothing else, she rationalized, she would be able to alleviate some of the intracranial pressure that she had watched build behind the walls pushing on his brain. Already spiking to dangerous levels, it would not take long for it to cause serious brain damage or lead to a hemorrhage. Looking to the sink, Scully set the tray down and turned on the tap before she began lathering her hands in suds. Where was Mulder? It had been well over twenty-four hours since he had left with Skinner to find Jeremiah Smith. Scenarios involving their murder and dismemberment began stealing into her thoughts and she shook her head to expel them. She could not allow for any ideas of that nature. There would surely have been unforeseen obstacles that would have impeded their progress, and they were simply taking longer to arrive than what they had estimated. Still. Scully glanced at the clock, gauging how long she had been scrubbing and how long Mulder and Skinner had been gone. Despite the steel grip she normally reined over her emotions, tears began to cloud her vision and she silently cursed once she realized that the quick below two of her fingernails was bleeding. She had been so preoccupied that she had scrubbed the skin raw. Overcome by the sheer injustice she felt, she left the tears fall freely as she treated the broken skin with ointment. Berating her carelessness and weakness, Scully feared what might happen when she went to make the first incision. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Several stories above, Mulder rushed down the stairwell that led down to the medical lab and infirmary with Jeremiah Smith. Worrying that he had been gone far too long, he focused on getting down the stairs as fast as he could without tripping. He didn't allow himself to begin thinking about any of the possibilities regarding what had transpired after he left, forcing himself to concentrate on the stairs so he could take them several at a time. Stumbling through the door that separated the stairwell from the medical facilities, he ran for the infirmary and caught himself barely before he toppled into Scully as she exited the lab carrying a tray of tools. "Scully! How is he?" Startled by the sudden noise, Scully almost dropped the tray before she caught herself and turned to see Mulder bearing down on her. She frowned, shaking her head even as she felt a wave of relief. "He's in a lot of pain, Mulder. Where's Smith?" She was alarmed that he wasn't with Mulder and she began to suspect the worse. "He's here. Coming. What are those for?" Scully set the tray down unsteadily, her calm facade betrayed by her quaking hands. "I hope it doesn't matter now." "What about Gibson?" Looking broken, Scully simply shook her head in response before entering the small medical bay where both boys lay. "We're taking care of him, but he doesn't have much time." Mulder had felt Will's pain since reentering the complex but not the way he did now that he approached the boy's bedside. Hands moving to his temples, it was enough to make him stagger back before it overwhelmed him. It was made all the more unbearable by the fact that Mulder could do nothing to ease it and had once been in the same situation. Jeremiah entered the room, frowning as he glanced between both Gibson and William. "There is a great deal of work for me to do here." Moving to Gibson's side, he frowned, a mysterious expression clouding his features. "There's nothing I can do for this one." Theo glanced at him forlornly as he moved away to William's bedside. "He is in such terrible pain." Laying his palms over William's temples, Jeremiah bowed his head and stood still. Mulder immediately felt the pain begin to ebb and sighed with relief. Eyes opening only slightly, the healer regarded them all calmly. "Leave me here with him. Your suffering is only adding to his agony. I will do what I can for both of them." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Long hours passed. Mulder sat staring blankly into space, slumped against a wall as he sat on the floor. He might feel better pacing, but Scully had fallen asleep against him, despite her attempts not to. She was resting wrapped in one of his arms and Mulder was glad she had a break from the stress she had been under. She had pushed her body beyond the realm of exhaustion and Mulder had feared for her health. His own current thoughts were more conflicted and tears slid down his cheeks as he worried about them and what their future might hold. It wasn't like him to sit around while someone else attempted to solve the matter at hand. He didn't know the solution to their problems. There were no clues, no trail of mysterious hints to follow or psychopathic mind to unravel to close the case. In pathology, matters of the physical body, he had always turned to Scully for the answers, but even her science had limits. And now, when it counted more than anything either of them had ever done, the matter was not one they could resolve through their combined knowledge and skills. The only avenue of the present moment was in faith. Absently, Mulder fingered the cross of Scully's that still enclosed his neck. Slipping it off carefully, he brought it out from beneath his shirt and examined it as he had many times before. Mulder had never been a religious man. There had been few times he had prayed in his life and those had all been times of desperation. Each act had been when he had lost someone dear in his life - his sister, his father, Scully, her sister, her daughter, his mother. Each time he had felt guilt for deaths, abductions, and damage he had considered his fault. For a long time after that, he had never prayed. The urge to communicate with a non-responsive God had been replaced with rage. Rage over the injustice done to Scully, his own abduction experience, his incarceration for a crime he did not commit, being denied the right to raise the child that he and Scully had endured so much for. There was too much injustice in the world for him to know God as anything but an absent puppeteer who only read the box scores. Staring at the cross, Mulder wanted to know gratitude. He wanted to know the blind faith that Scully had often demonstrated when difficult circumstances presented themselves. He and Scully had been lucky to escape. They should have been dead many times over in the years they investigated the X-Files and in the years of hiding they had undergone following his arrest. To create life where every scientific analysis said that it was beyond hope. To find William and bring him to safety here even after he had suffered from the invading virus, to enjoy life together with all its mysteries and gifts for the years he and Scully had shared abroad and in isolation. Meeting the woman who was his perfect opposite, the one who kept him honest, someone who had saved him a thousand times over. What allowed those small miracles? A forgiving, all-loving deity? Other hands? A mix of fate and random chance? It would always be a mystery. ------------------------------------------------------------------ *Slender long fingers dipped into the crystal, clear water. Looking up, he smiled that the water was warm and undisturbed, at peace. It tasted sweet. It soothed his throat. There was a feeling of wisdom deep within him, a knowing sense that the people and nature were once again in balance. Across the lake by which he perched, a large island drew his focus to the center community, a bustling city. Three large, stepped pyramids aligned with the heavens ensured harmony between Earth and sky. All was as it should be. Deep satisfaction overwhelmed him for the blessings he had received. A beautiful lover, a strong and healthy son. Today was a day to pay tribute. Stretching out his long, lean body, he dived into the calm water and began the journey that lead him home toward the largest of the three monuments. Shoulders dipping in and out of the water, he was reminded of swimming in endless waters much cooler, an age ago. A familiar glimpse into a different life he could not place. Pleasantly exhausted, the man drew himself up out of the water and shook it from his long hair. Some part of him had expected to see individuals a certain way, but he did not view what he expected. The large temple looming above him had also changed, but it confused him. It was smaller, clean, the stones freshly hewn. Curiously precise. The lake he had recently emerged from receded as fair-skinned beings dressed as eagles walked down the layers of the stepped pyramid and into the now dry lakebed. Beneath the temples, beneath the lake, they descended into a circular opening, surrounded by mysterious but familiar symbols.* ------------------------------------------------------------------ Mulder woke gasping, having shocked himself awake. His sudden movement woke Scully beside him and he lifted his arm absently so she could wriggle out from his embrace. The ship is stuck in his mind. He knows it from something he has seen thousands of times and he is struck that it is the same ship that he and William built on the beach long ago. This particular ship was remarkable, but now he could not remember why. He has never seen it anywhere but buried in the beach and questions begin to work themselves through his brain. "I can't believe I fell asleep. Has there been any word?" Scully observed him with concern as he used his hands to stretch his stiff knees and listened to their disturbing response and his resulting murmur. She attempted to stretch her own back where Mulder's arm had rested. "I don't think so. I drifted off myself," Mulder admitted sheepishly. Scully made a note to examine his knees later and cupped his elbow in her hand, not expecting the wince that met the action. "Your sensitivity to the magnetite here...It's getting worse, isn't it? We can't stay here much longer." "*Correction* - I'm not going to be able to stay here much longer. The safest place for you and Will is right here." Mulder immediately felt her hand tighten and grimaced. He should not have brought this up now. "Don't even think for one second that I'd allow you to-" Mulder reached to grip her hand gently with his own. "Scully, if I can save you, let me." He echoed words she had said to him long ago when their situations had been reversed. Even ravaged by cancer and on the brink of death, Scully had considered his welfare above her own. He hadn't left her sacrifice her reputation to save him then, and he doubted that she would allow him to keep them here where they might be protected, but he could try. This was about more than just the two of them now. The familiar words were not lost on her, but did nothing to quell the challenge he saw in her eyes. "Don't be so stubborn. Do you really think they'll let him go, considering what they think he is?" Mulder asked. "What makes you so sure they would even allow you to leave?" Mulder scuffled his boot along the floor absently. "I'm not prepared to give them an option. Think about what is best for Will. What life could we possibly hope to provide out there, scrambling just to survive? This isn't ideal, I know, but it's better for both of you than what is out there. It's a wasteland up above. Nearly everything's been destroyed...I don't think I could keep you safe. We were almost blown apart by one of their ships coming back." "Look " Scully took a deep breath, trying to calm the anger she felt boiling to the surface and in her own trembling hands, "I know your heart is in the right place, but whatever may be out there - we're going to face together. *Alt*ogether, Mulder. We are not splitting up...Maybe you're right that it's safer here, but I was there the last time you left us thinking you would protect us by doing so...Our son needs us! Both of us, Mulder! We need each other...I need you...and wherever you go, I'm walking after you." The clasping sound of the door mechanism jarred them to their feet as Jeremiah emerged from the room disheveled and exhausted. "William is ready to see you. He should be fine now. I am sorry about Gibson, but he is at peace now. I have to get back." "Oh thank you." Scully hugged the man, sobbing silently, filled with gratitude. "Thank you. Everything you've been through to come here...I can't imagine." Mulder felt a great weight lift from him as he sighed with relief. ------------------------------------------------------------------ *They walked along the bridge that crossed the lake toward the center island, the beings surrounding them frozen in time dressed in fine regalia. It was night now, the air balmy. A full moon above them lit their surroundings. "What power do you wield here? You're controlling them." William was curious and displaying authority was something the smoking man obviously cared a great deal about. It was the first words he had spoken to the older man since they left the cliff. "Perceptive boy." The man grinned and made the boy feel unsettled, an effect that was not lost on him. "In another life, I held power like these men...the power of Gods. The ability to orchestrate the lives of others. Each player, their entrance and exit, their impact on a theme. Introductions of variations designed to shape an all-consuming perspective, a drive to uncover the truth. The addition of a beautiful and taming counterpoint, someone so vital to the central element that he becomes inoperable without it. Allowing closure and release only when I deemed the work complete. And finally," the smoking man sighed smoke, looking down at him fondly. "The birth of a fantasy to start the process anew." William had listened half-heartedly, distracted by the arc of eagle-men that now emerged atop the pyramid structure surrounded by braziers lit ablaze. "What are they doing?" "Burying the past-" Emerging from the water below, Mulder surfaced and immediately spotted them as they surveyed the surroundings. "Hey! Get the hell away from him!" The older man continued watching the men in the distance. "Easy now, son. I'm just showing the boy his heritage. Even now, I'm showing you what you need to see...giving you the answers you seek, and yet here you are being callous. Awfully unbecoming, Fox, don't you think?" Mulder pulled himself from the water and onto the pier so that he stood between the Smoking Man and William. "You've given me nothing but pain. Remember your last words to me, happy to see me powerless, able to do nothing? Telling me I could go die?" Mulder turned to William. "Forget whatever he said to you, it's a lie." "A test, Mulder, to prove your resolve, check your mettle as it were. You've underestimated me, as always." An evil glint lit the old man's eye as he bared the slightest of smiles. "For everything I've cost you, I've given you twice. I protected you through the years, made them forgive your sentence, assured you would be in a position to survive. Brought you Dana, assured she survived," the old man looked at William fondly. "Allowed you both to bear a child even when science said it couldn't be done. Don't be petulant. I've created you. I've forged you from steel." Mulder shook his head, outraged. "You're cancer. You're dead and buried." Above them, a man and woman dressed as an eagle and a snake emerged at the edge of platform towering over the lakebed. As everyone looked upon them in silence, they were lit ablaze and leapt together into the lake below, weighted so they would sink to the bottom. Ritual sacrifices, the first of many. "We all make sacrifices for the things we value in life, Fox." The Smoking Man took a long drag from his cigarette, regarding Mulder coolly. Leaving them, the old man began to walk into the distance and fade. "It really is easier than you think when you realize what it means to serve the greater good." Will turned in confusion to Fox, but then their surroundings were shifting and the perspective changed.* ------------------------------------------------------------------ He was back in the hospital bed, his father hovering above him beside his mother. Mulder's hand had smoothed back the hair from his damp brow. William was relieved to be awake and sore. His throat hurt to swallow and his muscles felt weak but responded when he began to sit up. Something else was different. The thoughts around him, previously screaming and overriding his own were now cloaked, dampened, available but only if he wished. The knowledge to control them was now at his disposal where it had not existed before. He began to pull at the tube below his nose, ready to get up now that he was able, but Scully quickly grabbed his hands. "Hold on, let me." Scully's joy was evident in the tears she quickly wiped away and William couldn't help but grin at her before she enveloped him with a hug. In the days that followed, there would be grief for Gibson to bear and questions regarding the vision that Mulder and William both saw, but for now they briefly shared a moment of happiness for William's returned health and a moment of gratitude for the healer that had come so far to help them. Jeremiah had disappeared shortly after Will's recovery, but Mulder expected they might see him again someday.