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change to CC, 1013, and Fox.
Rated: PG
Spoilers: Season 4 content.
Archivists are welcome, just keep my name and title attached.
Genre: S, UST/MSR gray area ... but friendshipper safe.
Feedback: [email protected]
Author: Shaye Beaumont
Title: In Darkness
Length 1/1
Summary: A Halloween challenge story. Scully experiences a strange 
nightmare and Mulder reaches out to her when they are reunited.

In Darkness        1/1
by Shaye Beaumont

"Do you feel at home?" her voice echoed mockingly from the hallway.

A dark suited gentleman stepped from the shadowed area in the cell to 
answer her question. "It's darker where you're going, but you seem to 
have accepted that fate. It needn't be that way, my dear."

Her expression became cold like a death mask etched in stone. Years of 
loathing for this man came back to her all at once in sharp pains to her 
heart. "Even if you had the cure it wouldn't absolve you from the 
countless other lives you have ruined."

"You've missed the point. It's quality, not quantity. The saving of one 
can outweigh the many. Let me present it to you this way . . . would you 
save Einstein or the four million Jews that died in the Holocaust? What 
if Christ had lived? There would be no Second Coming or Apocalypse. 
Those are tough questions for someone who is a scientist and a 
Catholic."

"Everything Dies," she answered in a sad, hushed whisper.

"Is your God dead?"

She did not want to answer him. To question the existence of God was to 
question the Afterlife. She would find out the answer soon enough. "I 
bet you'd like one of these wouldn't you?" she teased, as she raised her 
pale-skinned hand that held a cigarette to her lips. With the other hand 
she used a lighter to ignite the cigarette's end. The small blue and 
orange flame flickered and crackled as it touched the paper and tobacco. 
Slowly she exhaled a steady wisp of smoke, allowing it to drift in 
between the cell door's bars to lazily float in the air front of his 
face. 

He flashed a wicked smile, ignoring the smoke. "My ashtray is full. 
Treat yourself," he replied to her offer.

The florescent tube-shaped lights that were mounted overhead in the hall 
snapped on, blinking a couple times before glowing brightly. The lights 
made a buzzing sound that filled the silence that lingered between her 
and her captive.

It was then that a door at the end of the hallway opened and a familiar 
figured appeared.

"Come on, Scully. Your family is waiting. You don't want to be late for 
your own funeral," Mulder said as he walked briskly towards her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dana opened her eyes and frighteningly stared out into her dark bedroom. 
A cold, late October breeze blew outside, causing a nearby tree to sway 
and creak its wood eerily. With each resurgence of wind, the long  
branches would briefly tap and scratch at the window glass. 

Fall was here and winter would soon follow. Everything was dying and she 
was dying with it. Her days were slipping away like the last vibrant 
autumn leaves. 

The shadow of the tree danced about on the far wall of her bedroom. Here 
in the dark, with her mind still lingering in a blurry realm of 
semi-sleep, she imagined the bare leafed tree as a skeleton and the 
sound of its branches scratching like a person who was buried alive. It 
was only when the creaking returned that she imagined it was the sound 
of her coffin closing. The image sprung to life, a fleeting vision of 
her loved ones looking upon her for the last time before she went to the 
dark solitude of the grave.

Dana shifted her eyes away from the ghostly tree and turned over onto 
her side, pulling the blankets closer around her shivering body. She 
prayed silently to herself, a ritual taking her back to when she was a 
little girl when she hoped that the boogie man would not harm her. 

In childhood she would run to her brother Bill's room if she was scared 
at night. He would calm her fears and show her that the shadows could be 
anything that she wanted them to be. Bill would make shapes with his 
hands that would appear as a rabbit or butterfly on the wall. It always 
made her smile, Bill's hand-made shadow critters, because they had no 
sharp teeth or claws like the monsters in her room.

Or like the ones in her head.

The branches' scrapping had stopped and a strange quiet settled in the 
bedroom. A flash from the headlights of a line of oncoming cars passing 
outside had created a new image on the wall. The dark shape seemed to 
appear out of nowhere, almost from inside the wall itself. This shadow 
moved faster than the swaying image of the tree. This one traveled 
across the wall and glided lithely over the floor, coming to rest at the 
edge of her bed.

Dana pulled herself into a fetal position, moving her feet away from the 
shadow. As the last car passed by, the darkness snaked across the bed 
and disappeared. Meanwhile, outside the wind had begun to stir again. 
Dana swore that the rustling leaves that tumbled down below on the 
street were calling her name.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Next night
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, Scully, this isn't the grand welcome-back-to-the-basement reunion 
that I had planned on, but you have to admit the change in atmosphere is 
nice."

"Sure, if you're into Grizzly whatshisface, Mulder," she added, nodding 
her head slightly in agreement, while casting a quick glance to survey 
the huge, dimly lit interior of the barn.

"Who was Grizzly's sidekick?" Mulder asked.

Dana wrinkled her eyebrows as she tried to think of the character. "Hmm, 
I'm not sure. However, I do remember the donkey's name. It was . . . Old 
Number . . ."

"Seven?" they answered at the same time, still not sure if that was 
correct.

"Well, Scully, I think we better stay here tonight. We'll never find the 
outpost in the dark. I want to get an early start tomorrow, because our 
answers lie about ten miles from here over some rough terrain."

Mulder laid down two sleeping bags on the floor. They both unzipped 
their respective bag and climbed inside to get warm. As Mulder reached 
over between them to turn down the flame in the lantern, Scully moved 
his hand away from it.

"What's the matter? Are you afraid of the dark?" he half-joked.

"No, I'm afraid of the flame going out," she replied quietly, still 
holding his hand but focusing her gaze on the lantern.

He smiled faintly and wrapped his hand a little tighter around hers. For 
the first time he felt how physically fragile the cancer had made her. 
He knew his partner's spirit would soon follow if a cure wasn't found.

"Scully, the flame inside won't go out. You won't let that happen . . . 
and neither will I."

She looked away from the lantern and met his gaze. She immediately felt 
the added security and warmth that he gave her. It was a feeling that 
she had greatly missed since he had disappeared. There was a deep 
understanding between them that was beyond the norm of a partner 
friendship. He could comfort her on a higher level more than even her 
brother or anyone else. 

Without another word, Scully let go of his hand and turned the knob on 
the lantern to extinguish the light. In the dark, Mulder could hear her 
push the lantern past them to a place above their heads. A few moments 
later he heard the sound of the fabric from her sleeping bag brushing 
along the floor, coming closer to him. 

Mulder smiled and slowly inched his way over to put his arm around her. 
He knew a great many truths were within their reach. 

End 1/1
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Please be kind and rewind. No late return rental fee.
Happy Halloween '97 XF Fan Fic-ers.
. . . Shaye
[email protected]
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