Redemption (19/26) 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------ XIX ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Behold, from the land of the farther suns I returned. And I was in a reptile-swarming place, Peopled, otherwise, with grimaces, Shrouded above in black impenetrableness. I shrank, loathing, Sick with it. And I said to him, "What is this?" He made answer slowly, "Spirit, this is a world; This was your home." - Stephen Crane, XXIX ------------------------------------------------------------------ *"Ma-e-yáázh....Fox Cub. You have seen the end of the Fifth World, the Sixth Extinction. You stand now between two worlds like your Father did once, unsure of which way to go. One way is death in the world below. You were nearly taken before the one they called Jeremiah came for you and now Death watches you because you have seen him. The other way is yet unknown to you, to any of us, to the Sixth World. I have come from the world below to guide you." William found himself waking to the unfamiliar man's voice as he rose in field he had dreamed of before, on the hill. An unnatural image near the horizon let him know he was dreaming, as he viewed the beach, the dandelions, and the lake he witnessed interchanging before him below along with other images he could not discern. "Who are you? What does it mean?" Will heard himself ask aloud. In the span of his question, the dandelions at his feet withered, became seed, and blew away, only to decompose and rise again. "It is the world in flux, and you may call me Albert." "I don't know where we're supposed to be going," Will said. "Should I know you?" "You do not know me, but I am known to your family. I have watched over you a long time now." In his mind's eye, Will saw the older man praying with Scully in her apartment and performing a sand ritual as he chanted over Mulder's broken body when he lay covered in grasses. He saw Albert pray over Scully, no, his Aunt, as she lay dying. Albert Hosteen helped translate the symbols that appeared on the alien ship located in Africa. In a dark motel room lit by illuminated water, he listened to a younger Mulder tell Scully about the power of the dead as though he were there while Albert stood nearby.* "I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us. That they speak to us as part of something greater than us - greater than any alien force. And if you and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we listen to what's speaking, it can give us the power to save ourselves." *"Listen now, Ma-e-yáázh. Just as you have seen glimpses of the world before and after you, and as I have told your mother before you. There are more worlds than the one you can hold in your hand," Albert told him. "In very early times before the Earth was whole, there were many creatures including dark mists and Insect People. These beings coexisted with First Man and First Woman until they began to fight with each other. Then, the people left and ascended to a new world before they came here, but the dark mists and Insect People remained behind. These are now the things that have returned to hunt man. The sun no longer crosses the sky, nor the moon. The rain is bitter, and the crops cannot grow. The monsters have nearly killed everyone as the world lays broken." Will felt overwhelmed. "What can I do?" "You must travel south and make appeals to the Elders for assistance. You must remain mindful of the many dangers that surround you. There are many." Will felt the man's presence diminish and turned to see he was gone. He looked at the images before him, confused. Then everything began to shatter and Will felt himself screaming for the man to wait as he began to fall through the ground he had just been standing on. 'Wake up, Will!'* Joy was shaking his shoulder as he woke with a start. Will felt the empathy behind her thoughts as she told him to breathe slowly. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Scully slid a few inches further down into the water until only her head and neck lay exposed, warming her chest. Mulder had just finished combing her hair and she leaned back against him. "Thank you." Bringing his arms around her, Mulder hugged her back against his stomach as he murmured his response into her hair. "It's been a long time since we've got to do this." He kissed the top of her head, briefly missing the scent of her old shampoo. "It's been years since Lisbon," Mulder recalled, closing his eyes. "Was it Lisbon?" Scully questioned thoughtfully. "I vaguely remember being Rene and Georgette, and that we drank entirely too much wine...And that you owed me big time." "Mmmhmm," Mulder affirmed. "We'd just come south from Paris, where I did my best to destroy every romantic notion of the city you ever held." "You had that horrible beret, and you drug me down into the catacombs with that horrible 'guide', whatshisname." Scully found herself chuckling as she closed her own eyes and briefly remembered what might have been Mulder's worst disguise. "Then...he got us lost. We were on the run from some of the world's finest and you were going to do us in for them." "Hey, we eventually found our way out," Mulder took care to point out, as if it made every other part of the ordeal okay. Scully sighed at his justification. "At least the lights were nice." "Being on the lam wasn't half bad," Mulder said, playing his fingers along the sensitive side of her stomach. He reconsidered when Scully gave him a look that said she was not convinced. "Sometimes," he relented. She rolled her eyes for his benefit. Patting his knee, Scully unwrapped herself from his embrace, stood up slowly, and immediately regretted it as the cold air enveloped her. "I wish I was drawn to it the way you seem to be, Mulder." She wrapped herself in her towel quickly before grabbing and holding Mulder's open for him. He snatched it from her gratefully as he rose and wrapped himself with it, nearly tap-dancing once his feet touched the frigid floor. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Most of the others were eating oatmeal quietly in the main room once the pair emerged from the bathroom. They avoided the glances the others cast them and helped themselves to servings from the pot resting near the fireplace. "Don't look outside," Frohike informed them when they sat. Before either could turn their head, Skinner said, "Don't bother. We're snowed in." Scully found herself taking a deep breath. "Well, at least we're well stocked for two weeks, if not more." Skinner cast her a wry smile but his expression changed abruptly when a rolling motion began slowly rocking the Earth beneath them. "What the hell?" They waited through the tremors, casting each other worried glances. Finally, the tremors slowed further and then ceased. "Earthquake?" Langly asked as he regained his sense of equilibrium. "That was odd," Frohike said. Byers looked perplexed. "It's been years since we've had an earthquake." "Everyone okay?" Scully asked, looking around. Mulder held out his bowl. "I think I spilled a bit of my oatmeal." Easing down on her knees, Scully sat beside William near the fireplace and restored the blanket to his shoulders that had fallen down. He silently thanked her with a half-smile. She returned his smile, but could not help but worry when she saw the dark circles embedded below his eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The hours wore by as the fire crackled. Skinner and Kryder decided to try their hand at hunting and had been gone since early afternoon. On the floor, William had progressed through several rounds of Battleship with Mulder and now stared across the improvised divider at the mirrored shades of Scully's gaze. Rachel sat beside Will and was no longer helping him by his request. The game had reached a tense stand-off between their last remaining ships. "E-7," William said confidently. Scully smiled triumphantly without looking at her board. "Miss." Will's eyes betrayed his surprise before he could mask it. He was sure he had cornered Scully. "B-4," Scully declared. William's head sunk to his chest as he muttered to himself, hating the sense of loss. "I'm sunk," he said in his sullen monotone. Scully's heart went out to him even as she smiled to herself with her victory. "There's always next time, Ishmael." The door opened then and Skinner and Kryder entered, the later carrying a string with two dead rabbits. Standing and brushing herself off, Scully assessed the pair and grimaced at the thought of having to clean the game. Dead rabbits made her uneasy. Noting her response, Kryder found himself smiling. "Don't worry, Ms. Scully, I'll clean them up." Catching herself sighing in relief, she cast Kevin a glance in gratitude. Skinner hung his coat on a hook near the door and sunk down into his favored recliner near the fire. He was clearly hurting, though Scully saw how he tried to cover for it. "Sir, are you okay?" she asked. Skinner quickly glanced at the ceiling. "I'm fine." "Okay, okay," Scully relented, making a mental note to check on him later. From his location on the couch, Mulder finally raised the question that had played through his mind since Kryder and Skinner returned. "Tell me you saw more than just those rabbits while you were out." "I wish we would have," Skinner replied, covering his eyes with the back of his arm. "We shouldn't have gone out." "You couldn't know what you would find," Scully said in consolation. She eyed the dusty hare and wondered if it would be safe to eat. ------------------------------------------------------------------ SOUTHBOUND ON I-81 Outside of Knoxville, Tennessee February 27th, 2013 10:13 a.m. Frohike was growing more and more agitated as they passed time in the back of the van. "You need some Metamucil, or what?" Mulder finally asked, staring at him intently. Frohike frowned and silently handed Mulder a small device he detached from his vest. "We need to head west. Now." Mulder saw the device was a Geiger counter as he viewed it and grew alarmed as he saw the reading. He heard his own voice raise softly, "Go west, Byers." Trying not to wake the others, Byers looked back over his shoulder to whisper. "What's going on? We don't want to leave the mountains yet." "Yeah we do," Mulder replied. "Just take the first exit you can." "What's happening?" Scully mumbled, waking as she raised her head from Mulder's shoulder. Will was in the passenger seat, helping Byers navigate the road. "There's radiation," he said, absently prying. "It's too strong to continue this way." "Oh shit...Excuse me," Byers said, quickly catching himself. Will watched his grip tighten on the steering wheel. "My atlases are in my bag, Mulder. Can you-" "Yeah," Mulder confirmed, scrambling for the bag. "Just give me a minute." "What if I turn around?" Byers asked. "Keep going, just cut north," Frohike said. "We don't have anything to go back to." "Where is it coming from?" Scully asked, reaching for her bag. "How high are the readings?" "Don't worry," Mulder said, "They're not too high yet, but we need to move away." He pulled Byers' atlas from his bag and had it open to Byers' bookmark within a few seconds. "Mulder? High enough for iodine tablets?" Mulder looked up shaking his head absently before meeting her gaze. "Let's see if it gets worse first. We don't want to take them unless we have to." "Find me a road, Mulder," Byers called back. Everyone else who had been asleep was awake now. "There's an exit," Will pointed out as a sign along the road came into view. "Ten miles more." "I can still turn around," Byers said. "Don't waste the gas," Skinner said, stretching. "Keep going, but fill up now if we're low. We don't want to get in deep and then need to stop." "What's putting off so much radiation?" Kryder asked. Frohike reached near Mulder's lap and took the Geiger counter back so he could watch the readings as they fluctuated. "There's a cluster of nuclear facilities just south of us. You let nuclear sites go for months unattended and this is what you get. Think Chernobyl, Fukushima, except all over. A few of them may have been reduced to cold storage, but most places-" Frohike shook his head and stared down at the device. An uncomfortable silence fell in the van. Will watched his breath crystallize before him and wondered how radiation could be so dangerous when you couldn't even see it. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I-40 WEST Outside of Nashville, Tennessee February 27th, 2013 3:26 p.m. Skinner checked his weapon again. "Everyone needs to be awake and alert as we go through the city. We have a tactical disadvantage not being able to see out the back of this thing, not to mention that we will be an obvious slow-moving target. Clearly, it's not a good position to be in." "Let's skirt around it," Langly suggested. "Don't even go near the city." Kryder was driving now. "How are we for supplies? If we don't need any, we should go around. Skinner was right that we're an easy target. The highways coming out of the city will be jammed with cars." "It's better to risk scavenging if we can," Scully argued. "We could hit another area with radiation and there's going to be wider stretches of road between places as we continue on. We could wind up holed up for another few days, even without snow. It's better to stock up if we can." The radiation readings had declined considerably in the last ten minutes and Frohike sighed a sigh of relief. "For what it's worth, the radiation has dropped. And who says we can't do both? Skirt the city, but look for places we check out for supplies. Seems simple enough. Find the traffic jam on the other end and we can fill up the gas cans." "Sounds good to me," Byers said. He was more comfortable minding the maps than driving. "Sounds ridiculous," Skinner said, looking past them out the windshield. "Keep going toward the city for now, Kryder. We'll hit the jam coming out the eastbound lanes. Then we skirt around and just keep going. Everyone eat something while it's warm and we still have some daylight." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Grey cars stretched down the grey lanes in unnatural silence as most of the party walked with their weapons and the gas containers down the freeway. From the other end of the divider, Frohike watched with William and Rachel from the driver's seat prepared to cover their position as far as he could still tail them with his scope. Skinner recoiled as he inadvertently looked down into a cracked windshield they passed. The remains of the driver were split open where the creature it spawned escaped into world. He wouldn't have recognized the site if he didn't understand what had transpired. Fingers snapped behind him. "Walter." Skinner looked up from the distraction to Kryder's softening expression and caught himself. "Try to put it out of your mind. Let's get the gas and get out of here." They set to siphoning gas from the first car's gas tank while Mulder took a crow bar and popped a nearby trunk release. He looked briefly over his shoulder before he took the suitcase in the trunk and tossed it on the other side of the car where Scully wouldn't see him rummage through it. The clasps popped open and clothes fell out onto the road. He sighed in disgust and flashed his light into the trunk looking for more useful items. "People never pack what they should," Skinner said, holding the gas tank and hose as Kryder pumped. "Someone should have," Mulder said, moving to the next car. He gasped in horror once he saw the remains of a family in the back seat and raised the back of his hand to his mouth as he caught a whiff of decomposition. "You okay, Mulder?" Scully had heard him. Mulder nodded absently as he moved to the trunk, waving a hand in dismissal. He looked back to where Frohike was sitting in the van with the kids and reassured himself. He made short work of the trunk mechanism but leapt back once the hood lifted to expose a decomposing body lying in a pool of Black Oil. Jeremiah's warning sounded in his head and he quickly shut the door again. The sound of strong thunder in the distance commanded his eyes skyward. "Quick," Byers prodded, "We won't want to be out here if it starts to pour." He deftly spun the cap onto the container of gas he and Scully had filled. The party heard Frohike wolf whistle and point skyward as the thunder sounded a second time, closer and louder. "Let's go," he hollered as he slapped the side of the van. He began moving the van closer to their position on the other side of the divide. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MEEMAN-SHELBY FOREST STATE PARK Outside of Memphis, Tennessee February 28th, 2013 1:22 a.m. "How do you ignore them?" Will asked. "The voices?" Mulder asked. "Yeah," Will said. Will had joined Mulder near the dying coals of their campfire. Sitting with his back to the warmth, Mulder scanned the forest nearby for signs of movement as he heard the wind rustle. He was rotating his arm slowly but winced when he heard Will sneeze. He abandoned preserving his night vision to confirm the boy was still wearing his facemask. His worry for his son was constant. The detour north had kept them from Memphis completely and Mulder briefly wished he had the opportunity to show Will Graceland. His fingers moved absently over his mended collarbone. "I couldn't, when I could hear them well," he responded. "There were a series of rubbings taken from a spacecraft that seemed to trigger it for me. The Smoking Man you've seen in your dreams, he had a surgery performed on me and then I lost most of my ability to hear them. It would have killed me if I hadn't been abducted myself. Now I'm just a tin man." 'But you hear me, still?' Will tested. 'You, sometimes Scully. I've always had a strange intuition about things, though,' Mulder responded. "I've wondered lately if the two were related." "Having trouble with it?" Mulder asked out loud. When Will didn't answer, Mulder looked over to see the blood had drained from Will's face. The boy was staring raptly into the forest. "Will?"