"To love for the sake of being loved is human,
"Wings are heavy. They're heavy and I can already tell they'll start to smell bad after
about two weeks. I mean, look," Alex Krycek reached behind his shoulder and
plucked a single white feather from his newest limb. Twirling the feather in his
hand, he held it up for the other man to inspect, "look at this. This is a part of me
now. Sure it was easy for the first few days, but we were... you know, we were up
there then. Did you stop to wonder about sleeping? Fitting through elevator doors?
Taking a fucking shower???"
Fox Mulder retaned the stony indifference known to incite the typical irritation in
Alex's heart, and stared blankly at the frustrated angel. "Why would we want to use
an elevator now?" To illustrate his point, Mulder fluttered his hefty wings just
enough to muss Alex's hair.
"Fuck you," green eyes squinted into slits of mock anger as Alex smoothed his hair
out and stood, "you were the one who caused all this."
Mulder ran his fingers over the concrete curb on which he sat, calmly confused, in
the summer heat. A self-important scoff was just enough to make his point, but he
was not about to get a response until a full contradiction was offered.
"I caused all this? I caused all this? You're lucky you even made it to heaven!"
"I wouldn't have to worry about that if you hadn't killed us!" Alex pointed sternly—a
jabbing, firm point that only seemed to incite a greater indifference in Mulder.
Hoping to add a little fuel to the fire, he added a clincher. "Punk!"
"Um, no, wait, excuse me, I'm not the punk. But that's not the thing. Krycek, we
were killed by something else, something greater than I can explain, it—"
"Listen to yourself," Alex muttered, kicking stones in the deserted street, "still going
on like that. I agreed to help you and Scully both, and of course I ended up dead.
Now, you can't even arrange that right!!"
"No, you don't understand!" Mulder finally stood, gesticulating desperately. Pleased
that he had finally gotten a rise out of Mr. Apathy, Krycek gave a faint smile and
walked toward the agent-cum-angel. "You know that flash fire couldn't be avoided.
Besides, I think it was Scully who caused the whole thing. But back to my main
question....probably yours too: why were we sent back!? That's creepiest part!"
Memories of heaven were sketchy for both men. The whole place was actually not
as bright and ethereal as it was made out to be—in fact, Alex hadn't even felt so out
of place in his black leather (he felt extremely out of place in heaven in the first place,
but that was to be expected...). They were allowed to keep their existing wardrobe,
but the wings were a hassle. A hassle that was easily overcome, because, in keeping
with popular suspicion, heaven was a pretty nice place after all. That was until...
"Thrown out!!!" Alex suddenly cried out, shattering Mulder's methodical attempt to
sort through his memories. "We...were....thrown out of heaven!!!" His brow
wrinkled with an expression somewhere between worry and terminal confusion, he
ran to his companion and grabbed him by the lapels of his grey business suit, dusty
from the fall. Nodding with each syllable, his repeated twice: "Thrown....out.
Thrown out.....T-H-R-O—"
"For chrissake, Krycek, I get it," shrugging the other man's hands from his clothing,
Mulder moved aside, "but I think there was a reason. I mean, there had to be a
reason...."
"Yeah, I'm with you, I don't believe they just downsize in heaven."
This made Mulder pause, and he turned back to Krycek with a sudden look of
complete abandonment...the wet shivering puppy look Alex loved so much. "Oh my
God—"
"No, they don't lay you off from heaven!"
"No, not that!"
"You're so fucking cute when you're angry." Alex breathed, coming close to Mulder
and taunting him with a wicked grin. A cumbersome wing brushed Mulder's
shoulder as he passed, but that smile left a gaping hole in the older man's train of
thought.
"I...." suddenly realizing that he had forgotten what he was saying, Mulder turned,
allowing his eyes to follow Alex as the former assassin started walking down the
road, due east, toward Washing ton D.C., "I wish you wouldn't do that to me."
Alex only turned and grinned again, Honey-Nut Evil dripping from his words as he
said, "what were you saying, Foxy?"
"Shut up! That's it! That's exactly it! They want us to do something, Alex!"
"Who? Heaven? Heaven is an all-inclusive sentient being now?" Alex chided
sarcastically, pulling an incredulous face at the dumbstruck agent.
"Krycek....!" Mulder's wings suddenly unfolded, indicating the strength of his
warning. Alex reclaimed a more pensive face, and held out his hands in a truce
attempt. Mulder took the opportunity to continue. "We must be here because there
is unfinished business on Earth. I've watched movies enough to know that!" Mulder
launched into a jog and caught up with Krycek. With twenty extra pounds of wing
on his back, the exertion was more than he had anticipated, and he was heaving
breath by the time he caught up to the leather-clad rat.
Alex stopped walking and grinned. "You, the man who has always questioned
everything, are suddenly trusting movies?"
"Well, since it's both of us—I mean, seeing as how we can't exactly refer to any
former precedent on this matter—I'd assume that they sent us back—"
"Threw us out."
"—whatever—to tie up our loose ends. Something unresolved before we died. You
know? They say we all have a mission on Earth. Maybe you and I had one—"
Krycek gasped. "Fox, I never knew you cared!"
"Well we might have been sent back to reconcile our differences. We never exactly
hit it off..."
"Though occasionally we hit each other."
"You never got a punch in. I've kicked your ass more than I can count, up to and
including the day we died."
"Hey, now, I was a worthy adversary. I kept coming back for more, didn't I?"
"If that shows anything, it's that you're a moron."
"Hey, I've always been the more versatile one, so let's keep to the subject at hand."
Mulder looked surprised. "What, you? Alex Krycek, avoiding argument?"
"Look, I want to get to the bottom of this fallen angel thing as much as you do. I
hate this place."
"Maryland?"
"No, Earth. Hey, I guess once you've seen heaven you're ruined for everywhere
else." He shrugged, and glared at Mulder. Mulder met his eyes, and they stared at
each other for a very long time, the agent unable to convince himself whether or
not he had heard a vague tone of double entendre in the assassin's voice.
"Either way. I warned you. We're going to have a nice vacation for once."
Together they began to walk.
Back Door to Heaven, or DOGm/kA
by Shadow Omega
"Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest;
for
wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself;
for thou that judgest doeth
the same things."
—Romans 2:1
The First Epistle of Shadow Omega
but to love for the sake of loving is
angelic."
-Alphonse de Lamartine
