TITLE: Salvation 
 
AUTHOR: Donna Hartnett  
 
EMAIL: IDanaKScullyI@aol.com  
 
FEEDBACK: Yes, please! Nothing worse than sending out a fic 
and hearing the sound of crickets chirping coming from your 
mailbox! 
 
RATING: PG 
 
SUMMARY: A man named Walter, a woman named Dana, and 
a memory named Mulder. 
 
KEYWORD: SSR/MSR/AU/Post-
colonization/MScSkF/reference to character death that 
happened in the original story. 
 
ARCHIVE: Yes, please! I'm not above begging.  
 
SPOILERS: None really 
 
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a sequel to "Penance and 
Absolution." You really need to read that first. If you haven't 
read it, it's at Ephemeral, or you can email me at the above 
address and I'd be happy to send it to you. 
 
DISCLAIMER: CC and his minions, I write this out of love, and 
if you sue me, you'll end up looking like a total ass! :p 
 
DEDICATION: To Melly, who inspires me beyond words. I'm 
ten times the writer I was before I met you! I tried to work 
Doggett in, honest!And to Her Prolificness, Peggy, at IWTB for 
encouragement above and beyond the call of a list-mate. 
 
Salvation 
 
 
And at what price, salvation? Why the savior wins the penitent's 
soul, of course. 
 
And she had his soul and his heart and his body and his mind. 
All that he was and all that he had to give was hers. 
 
And as is always the case with the redeemed, he gave it all 
willingly. He gave it without reservation and with the greatest 
reverence. 
 
And as is always the case with any worthy savior, she gave him 
all that she was and all that she had to give in return. She gave it 
without hesitation and with great love. 
 
And each time he worshiped her with passion, she saved him all 
over again. Taking in his love and returning it with equal fervor. 
Keeping his spirit alive. 
 
And they both lived their lives. Redeemer and redeemed, giving 
and taking in equal measure. Always together in spirit, even 
when separated in the flesh. 
 
And neither of them forgot the man who forged their union with 
his death. The man with the brilliant mind and the sparkling 
hazel eyes was remembered often, and fondly, during each of 
life's milestones or sometimes just because it was Tuesday. 
 
And it came to pass that he asked her to marry him. 
 
And she accepted, gladly. 
 
And at their wedding reception an empty, flower-draped chair 
was placed at the main table, just to her left, in remembrance of 
a good man gone. 
 
And they lived and they loved and they remembered him 
always. Neither of them forgetting all the man had learned of 
danger on the horizon. 
 
And then it happened. Hell on earth, Demons unleashed. 
 
Invasion. 
 
And the world lost its faith as billions died. But his faith remained 
for one reason and one reason only. Because she remained. 
 
And they fled the burning cities, taking shelter in the wilderness. 
 
For a time content to have merely survived. Together. 
 
And together they began to plot to banish the unholy. 
 
And with his strength and her skill and a dead man's 
information, they began their resistance. 
 
And they gathered together an army of the lost souls left in the 
rubble. 
 
And he became a leader of men. 
 
And she became mankind's deliverance. 
 
And a dead man shone the way. 
 
And even amid the death and destruction that war always 
brings, their love flourished. 
 
  And it gave all who bore witness to that love hope. 
 
And her strict rationalism and science that had once saved one 
man a thousand times over saved millions. A vaccine extracted 
from antibodies in her blood and manufactured on equipment 
stolen from the enemy saved the condemned. 
 
And a virus concocted with other illicit equipment drove the 
monsters out of Eden. 
 
And a new day dawned. 
 
And as their army disbanded, a new civilization began to rise, 
phoenix-like, from the ashes. A civilization based not on 
conflicting race or belief, but a civilization based on the 
common bond of humanity. 
 
And the dead man's quest was finally at an end, completed by 
the two who loved him best in life. 
 
And those two spread the word. A blanket of lies and deceit had 
allowed Armageddon to occur. 
 
And the survivors heard and taught their children well. They 
taught them the danger of lies and the importance of truth. 
 
And long after the two were gone, reunited with their lost friend, 
mothers everywhere tucked their children in with the same 
story. 
 
The story of a man named Walter, a woman named Dana, and 
a memory named Mulder. It was a story of hope and love and 
courage that restored the world. 
 
And the story would always begin with the same three words, 
spoken in all the languages of the earth, but the meaning always 
the same. 
 
In. 
 
The. 
 
Beginning. 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
End