Title: Lightening Shadows II-Glowing Dim As An Ember
Author: Elizabeth L. Iacono
Rating: Still General
Spoilers: Anasazi
Category: Vignette, Mulder-Angst
Keywords: Mulder/Scully UST
Summary: The next day, Mulder's dreaming again, and this time,
it prompts him to look for a missing persons report.
Archive-Please do, just e-mail me to tell me where it is.
Do not send to Gossamer, I already did.
Feedback: Is vital to my survival. The addy is RhiaRamsay@aol.com
Disclaimer: Not mine. CC's, 1013, and Fox's. Mine is Shannon and
Mama. The song is from HocusPocus, but it actually fits here so
just pretend for a little while.
All right, I don't know where the heck season six is taking us, so
we can just assume here that The End and the movie never happened.
I loved the movie, but I just can't make it work in this time line
until I see season six. So we'll just pretend it never happened.
Oh, yeah, and Mulder is still not colorblind.
Lightening Shadows II-Glowing Dim As An Ember
By Elizabeth L. Iacono
The next day
Dana Scully was worried about her partner. It was nine
o'clock in the morning and Mulder still wasn't in. This was
extremely odd for him. He usually beat her here, due to the fact
that he never slept.
She glanced at the small clock on Mulder's desk. Nine-fifteen
now. Okay, she thought, if he's not here in fifteen minutes,
then I'll call. She had to prevent herself from being too
overprotective towards him.
Scully tried to go back to work, but almost every minute she
kept looking at the clock.
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It was nine twenty-nine when a breathless and flushed Mulder
dashed through the door. He slammed the door shut and then leaned
back against it. Scully heard the sound of his head hitting the
door.
"Mulder? Are you okay?" she asked.
He lifted his head off the door and looked at her. She saw
the faraway look in his eyes that disappeared when he focused
in on her. "Yeah, I just didn't get enough sleep last night."
"No more than usual?"
Mulder started walking towards the desk. "Try less than
usual. I'm sorry, I'm just really out of it today."
Scully took in his disheveled appearance, the tie that hung
loosely around his neck, the small cut on his cheek where he'd
probably nicked himself shaving, and his tousled hair that just
wouldn't lie flat. Just the way I like it, Scully thought, but
then put that idea out of her head.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Mulder asked.
"Not much. For once there's no paperwork, we've got no
active cases, and Skinner hasn't needed to see us in days."
Mulder leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Good." He
closed his eyes and almost fell asleep immediately. He jerked
awake when Scully lightly touched his arm.
"Are you sure you're okay, Mulder?"
"I told you I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well." Scully
gave him a look that said 'If I buy that then you've got the
bridge real cheap too.'
Scully was getting more and more worried that Mulder was
getting sick. She put a hand on his forehead to gauge his
temperature.
'Pleasedon'ttakemypulsePleasedon'ttakemypulse' he internally
pleaded. His pulse was racing from the simple touch of her hand
on his forehead.
After what seemed forever, Scully removed her hand. "Well,
you feel normal."
"Told you," he said smugly.
"But, Mulder, if you really don't feel good, please tell me."
She was afraid of a repeat of April of 1995 where 'They' had
pumped Mulder so full of LSD he flipped out.
Mulder caught the look in Scully's eye. "Don't worry,
Scully. I haven't drank tap water from my apartment for
three years."
Scully smiled a half smile. "Whatever. So what are we
going to do today?"
Mulder smiled. "Well, I figured we could go through some
old cases and figure out which ones deserve the title 'total
waste of time' or 'boring enough to send up to Colton' or
'actual X-File worth investigating.'" He got up and pulled a
stack of files out of a box, took off his suit jacket and rolled
up his sleeves.
Scully stared at the stack of files. "You have got to be
the most disorganized person I have ever seen."
He leered at her. "That's why you like me so much."
Mulder didn't duck in time to miss the post-it pad heading
directly for his head.
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It was one o'clock. Scully had left to get some lunch for
the two of them. Now I might be able to catch up on some of
that sleep I lost last night, Mulder thought.
The reason he lost sleep was because of that damn dream.
Every time he fell back asleep the dream would keep repeating
itself in perfect detail. It was like the dream was trying to
tell him something, but he couldn't put his finger on the
meaning. Eventually he'd decided not to go back to sleep at all.
Now, though, it was catching up with him, and he was tired to
the point of falling asleep head first into a file about
bigfoot. Mulder decided it was time to sleep, so he folded his
arms on the desk laid his head down on them and immediately
dozed off.
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He was dreaming again. He just knew it. And judging by the
clothes he seemed to be wearing he was three years old again.
Fox looked around. This dream was different than the other
one. This time he was in a hallway with a sturdy wooden floor
and thick white walls that kept the heat out. The hallway was
long, and judging from the window at the other end it was
nighttime.
Fox looked to all the doors on the sides of the hallway.
One of them had wisps of smoke coming out from under it.
Naturally, Fox was curious. He walked over to the door and gently
pushed it open.
It was a bedroom, with a large fireplace on one wall and
a soft-looking bed opposite that. Something stirred in the bed
and Fox walked over to it.
In the bed was the girl from the other dream, Shannon.
She sat up when she saw him approach the bed. "Hey, Fox," she
said.
"What's wrong?" he asked. He had a vague memory of her
spending the past few days in bed, apparently sick.
Shannon's hazel eyes, so much like his own, lit up happily.
She grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up onto the bed
next to her. Fox snuggled down under the down feather comforter
and snuggled into Shannon's side. "You've got to see this!" she
said excitedly.
Shannon held out her right hand and placed it on the white of
the comforter. To Fox, her hand looked totally normal, but
suddenly it began to change. First, the skin grew scaly, and
not just a dry skin scaly but honest to God scales. Second, the
skin turned an iridescent green, and it shimmered in the light from
the fireplace.
Fox gasped. He'd never seen anything like this, not even in
any of the X-Files. He reached out a small hand and touched
hers. It felt like an actual lizard skin, like the one they
had in his pre-school back home.
Shannon continued to speak. "Mama knows about this too."
Fox looked up at her questioningly. "Yep, she does, she even
helped me the first time."
"Huh?"
"Uh-huh. Y'know, Mama's a witch."
"A witch?" Fox knew what witches were. He'd seen the
'Wizard of Oz.' Witches were people who stole dogs and chased
little dogs. He actually remembered a line from there, and he
told Shannon. "Kinda like 'Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?'"
Before Shannon could reply, a familiar voice came from the
doorway. "A good witch, of course."
Fox and Shannon looked up to see Mama smiling at them. "Uh,
hi, Mama," Fox said a little guiltily. He knew he wasn't
supposed to be in there.
"Aren't you supposed to be in bed now, Fox?" Mama asked in
her softly accented voice.
But Fox wasn't going to be distracted that easily. "Are you
really a witch, Mama?" he asked.
Mama walked over to the bed and sat down in front of the
two of them. "Yes, I am. And I'm not like that one from the
'Wizard of Oz' that I know you're thinking of."
Fox shrugged his shoulders. "She's like Glenda more than
anything. Y'know, a good witch," Shannon added in.
"Oh," said Fox quietly. He asked his next question. "Can
you do that thing with your hand, too, Mama?"
Mama glanced at Shannon. She nodded in confirmation.
"No, I can't, but Shannon's not a witch, like I am. Shannon's
got her own talents, just like Da does, and just like you will
someday."
Fox's head shot up at this one and his forehead wrinkled
in question. He pointed to himself as if to say 'Me too?'
"Yes, you too. But don't worry. You've still got a few
years to go. Shannon's time came a little early than both me
and Da expected." She shot a look at Shannon, who smirked back.
Mama spoke again. "Now, come along, Fox. It's time for
you to get back to bed."
Fox turned to Shannon and kissed her on the cheek. "Night
Shan."
She kissed him back and said "G'night, Fox."
Mama picked Fox up and carried him to his room at the end
of the hall. She nudged open the door with her foot and placed
Fox down in the bed. Before he dozed off he asked "Will I really
be able to do that someday, Mama?"
She smiled down at him. "Yes, you will."
"Good." Fox tried to get to sleep but for some reason, sleep
was now elusive. "Can you sing to me, Mama?"
"Of course." She leaned down and kissed his forehead.
Then, she began to sing.
"Come, little children
I'll take thee away
Into a land
Of enchantment
Come, little children
The time's come to play
Here in my garden
Of magic."
And that was the last thing he heard before he dropped off
to sleep.
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Scully arrived back in the office to find Mulder fast asleep
with his head on his desk. She smiled at the fact he looked like
such a little boy when he slept.
She had instinctively knew something was wrong with him from
the moment he'd walked in that morning. When he refused to talk
about it, she didn't push, God knew she wasn't one for
talking about her feelings either. But something was seriously
bothering him.
Scully walked over to the side table and put the bags with
the sandwiched down on it. She looked over at Mulder once again,
positive the best thing to do would be to let him sleep. She did
a double take when she glimpsed his cheek.
She could have sworn she saw a scaly patch on his cheek
that had a slight iridescent sheen to it. But when she went to
get a closer look, there was nothing there but his smooth cheek
with that birthmark on it.
Fighting the urge to smooth back his wayward hair, Scully
moved slowly back to the side table, but stopped when Mulder awoke
with a start. There was an almost scared look in his eyes and
he was breathing heavily. His eyes scanned the room, as if he
wasn't sure of where he was, until his eyes lit on Scully.
Mulder stood up. "I'm sorry, Scully, but I really can't
stay here right now." He pulled his suit jacket off the back of
the chair and started for the door. He was stopped by Scully's
hand on his arm once more.
"If you need me, just call," she said quietly, handing him
the sandwich. He took it from her and gently pressed his
forehead to hers for a second, as if to draw strength from her.
Then, he turned and left.
Scully got her own sandwich out of the bag and sat down
to eat it. She would be waiting for his phone call.
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Two hours later, Mulder sat at his computer, staring at the
monitor. Ever since the dreams finished, he'd suspected it, but
didn't have any proof until now.
On the screen was an old police report from Martha's Vineyard
in August of 1965. The police had found a small boy wandering
around the beach. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. The
one distinguishing feature was a birthmark on his right cheek.
He only seemed to know one word-Fox.
Mulder reached for the portable phone. He'd have to
tell Scully this.
To be continued...
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Well? What did you think? Any comments
can be sent to RhiaRamsay@aol.com
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"True love, it's the greatest thing
in the world."
Miracle Max
The Princess Bride
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"Men will fight bravely and be
heroes, but for a last ditch
defense against any odds, get a
mother."
Lightbringer
High Wizardry
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geocities.com/rhiaramsay)