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Title: The Truth You Seek Notes: I love reading Alt. TV Creative/X-Files, and this is my first attempt to write fan fiction. I'm laid up with a hurt foot on a weekend with no "X-Files" and I hope you won't flame me too bad. October 31, 1995 THE TRUTH YOU SEEK IS TO BE FOUND ON HIGHWAY 194 AT THE INTERSECTION OF DEVIL HILL DRIVE "Is that all the message said?" Dana Scully asked her partner Fox Mulder. "You read it the same as I did on E-Mail," Mulder answered. Suddenly, the Ford stalled without warning. "It's Aliens!" Mulder exclaimed. "It's a lemon!" Scully scoffed. Mulder and Scully stepped out of the car and began to look around. The sky was ominous black with thunder and lightening beginning to crash around them. The wind began to whirl and pitch. "Lets get back into the car unti the storm passes!" Scully called to Mulder, who was under the hood of the Ford. Before Mulder could answer her, the wind began to whip violently around in a counter-clockwise rotation. A strange light illuminated the surroundings. The two FBI agents started to get back into the car when it disappeared from view. The wind continued to whip around them, knocking them to the ground. Then, as quickly as it started, the storm stopped. Mulder and Scully looked up and saw a castle on a hill. "What is a castle doing in this part of the world?" Scully mused softly. "Probably taking the place of our car in the scheme of the universe," Mulder sarcastically answered. "But it is dry in there and we can use our cell phones to get back up." The two entered the great door of the castle, which lead into a hall. At the end of the hall sat a man in a chair that Mulder thought looked like a throne. "Come in Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully. I've been waiting for you," the man commanded. "How does he know our names?" Scully asked Mulder, who shook his head. "To answer the Good Doctor's question, I am a great fan of yours. I have followed your pairing from the beginning, and my name is Lucifer Scratch." "Lucifer Scratch?" Mulder asked curiously Scully looked at Mulder and mouthed the word "Satan." "Yes, my dear, I'm called that too. You see, Old Lucifer has a big favor to ask of the believer and the skeptic. I'm sure that you will oblige me, as you have no other choice." Scratch oozed charm as he said these words. "Scully, do you know what this is? It's the Lone Gunmen's Halloween present to me. Boy, those three go to the extreme with a prank." Mulder laughed. "Let's get out of here and see if we can find where they hid the car." "You will find there is no way out of the castle. I'm a master of illusion, you see, and only I know how to find the door. And you WILL oblige my favor!" Scratch bellowed. A hulking figure dressed as an executioner entered the room and promptly took hold of Scully. "Hey, let go of her you moron," Mulder said to the Executioner. "Come with me Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully, for I have something to show you." Scratch left the throne and the four walked down a series of steps to a dungeon--yes, a dungeon. As the group walked Scratch spoke to Mulder. "Mr. Mulder, many years ago a jeweled box holding my favorite treasures was stolen from me. Tonight the box will reappear in the hollow of the oak tree in my front yard. Only a true believer can retrieve this jeweled box. This is the favor that I ask of you." Scratch walked towards Mulder and held out his hand in friendship, which Mulder refused. "And if I don't get the box, what happens?" Mulder asked Scratch. "Your friend will be sliced into two pieces by the pendulum hanging above the stone table. I'm a great fan of Edgar Allan Poe, you know." Scratch spoke to the Executioner. "Prepare the Good Doctor for her fate." Scully's eyes went wide with fright, but her composure was steady. "I'm sure Mulder will be happy to retrieve your box without going to this extreme. " "I won't do anything if Scully is in danger!" Mulder exploded. "Oh yes, dear boy, you will. I know to what lengths the two of you will go for each other. And, by doing this, I can be assured of success in your mission. The Box will appear at three minutes to midnight. It is imperative that you retrieve the box at that time in order to make it into the castle by midnight. The pendulum, you see, is attached to the clock at the top of the castle and its twelve swings will amply cut Dr. Scully in two with time to spare if you do not come in at exactly midnight to stop the pendulum. I am sure that you understand your orders, Mr. Mulder." Scratch smiled a sickening smile as he said the words. The executioner picked Scully up and strapped her to the stone table with her arms stretched out as not to interfere with the pendulums's path. "Dr. Scully, you look almost as if you could be hanging from the cross you wear around your neck. I saw the man who inspired the wearing of such things at his execution, and I laughed until I cried," Scratch said to Scully. To Mulder Scratch said "Be back by midnight, or you will witness an execution, too." "I won't fail you, MISTER SCRATCH!" Mulder spat the words at his adversary. Mulder looked down at Scully, who managed to smile. "You'll do it, Mulder," she whispered. The walk to the woods was not too bad for Fox Mulder. The storm had let up, and a bright harvest moon shone down as Mulder made it to the oak tree. "11:50" the watch on Mulder's arm read. "The Box will appear at three minutes to midnight. It is imperative that you retrieve the box at that time in order to make it back to the castle by midnight." Mulder shuddered at the memory of the orders that Lucifer Scratch had given him. If ever there was a time that Fox Mulder need not fail, it was now. At 11:57 the tree opened up as scheduled and the jeweled box appeared. Mulder reached down to pick it up when the box vanished before his eyes. "No! Damnit, NO!" Mulder screamed as his hands came back empty. A heavy woman with straight black hair stood on the other side of the tree. In her hands laid the jeweled box. "Give that box to me! I've got to have it to rescue my partner, my friend." Mulder lurched for the woman, who held out her hand to stop him. "Do you have ANY idea what will happen if that Devil gets his hands on this?" she asked Mulder. Mulder pleaded as he felt tears well up in his eyes "I don't care, it's now two minutes to midnight and if I don't return with it my friend will die a horrible death. Please give it to me!" "No she won't, I can promise you that---go back to the castle. I'll be there shortly." With that the woman turned away. Mulder noticed briefly that she had a nurse uniform on before turning and running back top speed to the castle. The clock moved to one minute to midnight. In the dungeon, Scratch readied a video camera to take his pleasurable experience. "You are one sick puppy" Scully said to him with contempt. Scratch laughed at her. "My dear, it is not for me, it is for your good friend, Fox Mulder. It is my intention to keep him locked up here and he will get to watch you die--over and over and over again--for the rest of his natural life." "Even if he brings you that box?" Scully asked. "Especially if he brings me that box. That box makes me king of the universe! Of course in keeping with my bargain, if he should walk through the door in the next thirty seconds, I will not kill you as planned, but Mr. Mulder will still have something to watch." Lucifer Scratch looked down at Scully and smiled. "How would you like to be Satan's bride?" Scratch asked with a laugh. "That's a Hell of a thought, you bastard. By the way, are you sure you're not related to a black lunged Son of A Bitch I call Cancer Man!" Mulder stormed in with an attitude that Scully had seldom seen from her partner before. Just them, the clock began to strike midnight. The pendulum lowered and came within a centimeter of Scully. She screamed with a voice tinged with fear "MULDER!" Mulder quickly ran to the throttle that controlled the pendulum and the swinging device stopped. Scratch jumped down from his perch and slugged Mulder, knocking him to the ground. "YOU FAILED TO BRING ME THAT BOX! YOUR PARTNER MUST PAY!" Scratch placed his hand on the throttle to begin the pendulum again. "No, he didn't fail, Lucifer. I know where your precious box is. But you'll play the Devil getting it from me." The heavy set woman said to Scratch. Scully looked up from the table she was still attached to and a smile lit up her fearful tense face. "Nurse Owens!" Scully called across the room. "Fox, go get Dana off that table. I'm sure its not very comfortable, especially, with that thing hanging just over her." Nurse Owens smiled "It's good seeing you again, Dana." Mulder carefully unstrapped Scully and dragged her off the table. "Are you okay?" Mulder asked her. "I'm fine, Mulder," Scully answered and the two FBI agents smiled at their private joke. Scratch looked at Nurse Owens with hatred. "Bitch, you ruined me again--it will take another 100 years before I can get my hands on that box again!" "That's right, sweetie--I've put the box back in the oak tree and you can't have it," Nurse Owens said to Lucifer. "I'll kill those two FBI agents then" Scratch thundered. With a wave of his hand, Scratch made a ring of fire surround Scully and Mulder. "I take it you're a Johnny Cash fan, too," Mulder called out from behind the flames, trying hard not to show his fear of fire. "Dana, Fox, listen to me--you can get out of that ring and back where you belong. Do as I say now: Take each others hands, kneel, look deep into each others eyes and recite "The Lord's Prayer." Nurse Owens commanded. Mulder and Scully did as told, and looking as deeply into each other's eyes as possible began to say: OUR FATHER, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BY THY NAME THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD. AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL. FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOREVER, AMEN. And as if by magic, the ring of fire, Nurse Owens, Scratch, and the castle disappeared. Scully and Mulder found themselve back at their car on a stormy Halloween night at 11:21 p.m. "That was an X-File if I ever saw one," Mulder said to Scully as they got back into the car. "That was a dream if I ever saw one," Scully said to Mulder. The End HOPE Y'ALL LIKE IT. |