Mourning the Lost anon here again (bet you thought you’d seen the last of me) to humbly request any fics that are canon divergences of all the different near death experiences that Mulder and Scully have experienced. For example, fics like
“What if Mulder had actually shot Scully in Pusher”
“What if Mulder hadn’t realized the trick Linda Bowman pulled and shot Scully in Kitsunegari”
“What if Mulder died in the bank explosion in Monday”
“What if Scully had died in Tithonus”
“What if Mulder and Scully had died in Field Trip”
There’s probably so many other near death experiences that I’m missing but you get the gist. Sorry if this is too big of an ask, I’m just a sucker for angst and grief
Welcome back! I was wondering if you'd drop back in.
It's been... a long time since you sent this ask; but I hope these are sufficient (or at least worth it.)
Also, I included links to previous fic lists at the very bottom-- that way, you can jump from these stories to ones like them, if you want.
Loose chronological order below~
“What if Mulder had actually shot Scully in Pusher”
dksfwm’s Episode: Pusher
“Agent Mulder.” It’s the SWAT lieutenant, he deciphers. His ears start ringing and he doesn’t know what sounds are real. The lieutenant’s lips are moving, and he thinks he can make out “attempt” and “stabilize” and “if you want her to survive”. He feels paralyzed. His chest is heaving so hard that he feels like he’s going to suffocate.
AU-- Mulder shoots Scully.
@ghostbustermelanieking/skuls's Scully Russian Roulette’s with Modell instead of Mulder /in another world - Chapter 8
Mulder’s eyes widen, genuinely speechless. He is wearing a vest, but the muzzle is angled to where it will hit just above, in his neck or his head, and Scully shakes her head again. She feels so stiff, everything in her straining, and she manages a small word, a strained, “No.”
“C'mon, Scully, this should be easy for you,” Modell says casually. “You’ve shot him before, I read it in your files.”
It's Mulder, this time, at the other end of Pusher's gun.
“What if Mulder hadn’t realized the trick Linda Bowman pulled and shot Scully in Kitsunegari”
Chibiness87's Seeing is Believing
He glances down, and the movement is enough to make a shot ring out, and he glances around in shock.
Scully’s body is no longer lying in a pool of blood behind him. She has gone.
No. No. Nononono. Not again.
He can’t have lost her again.
Post Kitsunegari Scully guides Mulder through a panic attack.
“Back up! Back away from him!” Scully said and slowly advanced. In the dim light she saw that there was a dark stain on Mulder’s shirt. Linda was unscathed as well, a fresh bloodstain under her nose. Just then Mulder pulled his gun down, aiming it at Scully.
“She’s making me do this.”
AU-- Kitsunegari Linda Bowman controls Mulder.
@starwalker42's (Ao3)
febuwhump day 13: forced to hurt a loved one
All he knows - all he can allow himself to think - is that he will kill Linda Bowman, to make up for the fact she hurt Scully, and then he'll save her. He'll save Scully, somehow, because that's what they do, they're partners and they save each other.
Bowman talks, she won't stop talking, but he doesn't hear it, not really. He tells her to shut up, but she doesn’t listen. Why won’t she shut up? He aims his weapon at her chest, not thinking about the consequences, only thinking about Scully, dead at his feet… he aims his weapon, and he fires, hoping his aim is off because then she'll die slowly....
AU-- Kitsunegari Mulder doesn't listen to "Linda"; and kills her.
@mctaminy/McTaminy's The Ebbing of This Life-Tide Breath
Skinner reaches down and picks up the gun Mulder was holding, checks the clip, chamber, locks the safety and pockets it. He squats next to his agent, hand on his shoulder. Mulder glances at him, Skinners eyes are compassionate, but his teeth are bared. He’s worried.
“I played her game,” Mulder whispers, numbly, “I played her game and, and I lost.”
“V-tach!” One of the EMT’s say. A machine whines. “AED charged!” Scully stares lifelessly, lids half closed, chest still. Mulder can do nothing but stare, the corners of his mouth moving downward, his heart stopped, his hands and feet numb, stabs of dull pain from his knee. One medic calls, “Clear?” The other responds, “Clear!” and the half lids spasm close, her jaw clenches, then dull blue eyes open halfway again, one lid slower than the other, blood trickles from her mouth, she’s quickly lifted from the cement to a collapsed gurney, one medic straddles her and immediately begins CPR, the bleeding from her shoulder oozing with each chest compression.
AU-- Kitsunegari Skinner keeps Mulder together after the latter almost kills Scully.
Jennifer Maurer's Slow Promises
"It was *you*, Scully. You pointed your gun at me, and then you..."
"I know." I reached out, and Mulder grabbed my hand. "I saw the same thing once, only it was real."
"Tell me you would never do that."
"Come up off the floor, Mulder," I said, as I tugged on his hand and moved over to make room for him. He climbed onto the bed and sat next to me. When I put my arm around him I could feel him shaking, and I rubbed his back to try and soothe him a little.
Post Kitsunegari Mulder and Scully have a heavy conversation.
Rachel Howard's Without Reason
I stick my finger in my mouth and suck hard. The metallic taste in my mouth and nose takes me right back to that warehouse. For maybe the hundredth time today, I see Scully's blank face, a pool of blood fanning out behind her shattered skull.
I slam the file drawer shut, and the whole filing cabinet shudders. I don't need this.
"Need what?"
I didn't even know I'd said it out loud.
Post Kitsunegari Scully is fed up with Mulder "mea culpa"ing.
Ten's (xffics) Disconnection
He was together enough for the doctor at the hospital and Scully to agree about him being released, but Mulder was walking around as if someone had drastically turned his personality down or hit the 'mute' button. When he spoke, it was rarely on his own initiative - it was usually in reply to a comment or question. He had not fidgeted or shifted in his seat once during the meeting to give their report. When Skinner had first ushered them into his office, he handed Mulder back his gun. It had been the first opportunity their AD had to do so. Mulder had looked at it as if their boss was giving him a tissue or a pen, then nodded and put it away.
AU-- Post Kitsunegari Mulder resigns.
@pipistellus/pipistrelle's The Aftermark
He heard the click of Scully's heels on the warehouse floor, but didn't turn until she stopped at his side and rested a hand on his elbow. "The Falls Church PD have everything under control. Come on, let's get out of here."
He motioned with his head back into the interior of the building, where Skinner and the police chief stood over the smear of Linda Bowman's blood on the floor. "What did you tell them?"
"The truth," Scully said simply. "Linda Bowman brought me here in an attempt to get to you. During the standoff, I had a clear shot on her, and I took it."
Post Kitsunegari Mulder thinks his hate almost killed Scully.
@baronessblixen/BaronessBlixen’s "I can't breathe"
It's sheer luck that she finds him in the stairway, huddled in a corner, holding on to an open case file, loose papers circling him.
"Mulder," she says, more to herself than to him, and then she's by his side, on her knees, touching his ice-cold hands. "What happened?"
"Can't- I- can't-ca-," he stutters, horror flashing in his eyes.
Post Kitsunegari Mulder has a panic attack after looking over Linda Bowman's file.
“What if Mulder died in the bank explosion in Monday”
ghostbustermelanieking's mondays on an endless loop (Tumblr)
It all happens too fast to stop it.
The sudden movement must spook Bernard, because he immediately turns back to Scully and pulls the trigger. No hesitation. Scully goes down mid-crouch, hitting the floor with a wet smack, a stunned look on her face.
Mulder cries out without thought, without coherent words.
The many Mondays Mulder and Scully lived (and died) through.
Vickie Moseley’s (Ao3, Gossamer) Monday, Monday
Have I gotten her back only to lose her forever?
"Why, Mr. Skinner?" I ask, not really expecting an answer.
Skinner's and Maggie's perspectives of one bad day.
Donna/donnah’s (Gossamer, mulderscreek) Tuesday
Mulder jerked awake, then sank back down into his pillow. A dream, she was fine, it was only a dream. He found the phone in his hand anyway, dialing the first number on his speed dial.
"Mulder?" Her voice was trembling.
"Scully, are you okay?"
"How did you know?" She might even be crying, that scared him as much as the dream.
Post Monday Mulder and Scully figure out what their dreams mean.
@sigritandtheelves/DarlaBlack’s Here and Now
Mulder was in full projector-mode, rattling on about something called the “black pit” and a haunted train tunnel. He had slides, interviews with locals, even an audio recording of what he swore was EVP of a hundred-years-dead mine-worker. He was in the middle of flashing to a new slide–1950s newspaper clippings–when the thought (no, the memory) came to her—a false remembrance (a truth), a surety that could not ever have been (but it was).
The bank, his soft head in her lap, blood covering her hands as she tried to hold his life force in, tried to will his heart to keep beating. His sweat-prickled brow and unfocused eyes, lost in the shadow of death that was surely consuming him. The wet sound of his labored breathing. If she hadn’t been sitting, she’d have fallen down.
Mulder looked at her across the projector and stopped talking. “What’s that look for? Did I do something wrong?”
AU-- Post Monday Scully remembers Mulder's death in the bank.
“What if Scully had died in Tithonus”
I haven't read any fics with this conclusion (huh, interesting); so, I included a Tithonus-adjactent fic list instead:
Post Tithonus Mother Hen Mulder
“What if Mulder and Scully had died in Field Trip”
(**Note**: As the previous section, so this one.)
@badforthefish/Scarlet's The Festival
He still liked to think of her as his partner even if these days their partnership had a definite parenting slant to it. They hadn't worked together for many years – though he couldn't remember exactly how long. Somewhere along the line, they'd gotten married. They'd moved to the suburbs. He'd taken a desk job as a behavioural analyst. She'd gone to work at the local hospital. He tried to remember something about her job and failed. That was odd. He and Steve from accounting had been discussing their respective spouses' professions not two days ago, he remembered that much. So why couldn't he –
It didn't matter. Everything was fine.
AU-- Field Trip Mulder and Scully have a family... or do they?
Don’t know if you are still taking scene requests, but I’d like to see your interpretation of the scene in Je Souhaite with Mulder and Scully enjoying beers on his couch.
So what was your final wish, anyway?
(He looks at her for a long moment. All of her. Then he smiles happily.)
For Fab Friday…I’ve been working on an X-Files noir fanfiction that puts Mulder and Scully in a post WWII setting. The challenge has been to touch on the tropes of the hard boiled detective genre without going overboard. Here’s an excerpt!
I tried to tell myself I was rested, but that was a lie. Insomnia is a bitch and she makes a hell of a bedfellow. I couldn’t be bothered with the percolator in my apartment, though day old coffee hadn’t stopped me before. I didn't bother shaving, instead deciding to give my five o’clock shadow an extra half hour. My dress shirt lightly concealed the white bandage on my shoulder and I found a set of grey pants and matching suit jacket. I remembered my raw brimmed fedora and locked the door behind me. I debated whether or not to take the car but I didn’t want to deal with public transit this afternoon. The starter on the Pontiac needed a wake up call and after some persuading I made my way out of Alexandria.
submitted by @mulderist
You sound EXACTLY like a black and white noir film! Great job! Keep up the fantastic work!!!
I have a theory that Fox has been airing this seasons episodes out of order. Might explain the changes in MSR? Thoughts?
That's an interesting theory! Wasn't there a weird scheduling mix-up around the beginning of the cancer arc too? I think it's probably just poor communication between writers and the lack of a show bible, in all honesty. Makes for some fun knots for fic writers to untangle, though!
Head canon: with all of the travel they do, Mulder is more likely to get garbage snacks/food from the gas station. Scully tries to at least get him to drink water. Although she is known to enjoy French fries dipped in a Frosty on occasion.
@today-in-fic
He walks back to the car holding a large brown paper bag in his arms. Scully sighs seeing it; he told her he was just going in for a few things, not buying the entire store.
“What’s in the bag, Mulder?” she asks once he’s in the car. She knows it’s nothing healthy for him before he even needs to answer.
“Just some stuff for the road.”
Stuff is an understatement. Three packs of sunflower seeds, five chocolate bars, a random breakfast bar, two packets of chips. He takes out a cola for good measure and sets it on the dashboard with all his other goodies.
Scully stares at it all disdainfully, wondering how a person could eat that much garbage.
“Please tell me you have, at least, a bottle of water somewhere in there.”
Mulder just shrugs and Scully rolls her eyes. This is why he’s ill all the time.
“I did get something, though,” he says going back into the bag again.
Scully waits expectantly and he produces a package and hands it towards her.
“Liverwurst,” he says as she takes it.
“What? An no ice tea?”
Mulder smiles, remembering and, in turn, Scully smiles back.
