From: xsparklex Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1999 06:19:01 -0700 (PDT) Subject: The Unseen Source: direct The Unseen Author: Ayanna AKA xsparklex E-mail: xsparklex@i.am Start-Finish: 7/31/99-8/2/99 Archive: Ask first, so I know where to visit! Rating: light R for violence and language Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to each other, and the rest of the characters and the X-Files belong to CC. So don't sue. Summary: Mulder and Scully investigate some murders in a small town where the murderer has left only bloody victims and no clues whatsoever. Soon, our duo gets dangerously close to the killer. Spoilers: See if you can find Pilot, FTF, and Triangle references. Category/Keywords: X-File, M/S UST, at the very end MSR, if you have a stretched imagination. My crap: OK, this is my first attempt at fanfic, so I'm begging for no flames. And I don't know anything about the inside of the body, or how a person would react to death, because I'm lucky enough not to have to. So if any of that turns out wrong, don't blame me cuz I don't know how to do this. So for everyone, I added a little bit of everything in it. Sorry if it sounds corny, but I tried my best. An overall X-File, bits of humor, some UST, etc. PS: I'm 13. I am not a writer; this is jus for fun. But if is good, please tell me, cause I crave feedback. Prologue `I can't believe it! I've seen you everywhere, Mary! You went to the Model Search in town and now, you're a star-` Emma clicked off the TV. She groaned inwardly. "God, I need a life." She was sick of the all-too-fake infomercials she was always watching. The cabin didn't get much cable that actually worked, and it was raining outside so she couldn't go walking or anything. "This is the BEST cabin around," Jen had said. "You won't be disappointed," Jen had said. "This is a one of a kind," she insisted. Well, Em was having the best of times now. She and her roommate just had a big fight over the phone. She'd just broken off her only long-term boyfriend in a long time. Her mother had planned on coming to town, but thankfully, Jenny, her cousin, had rented her this cabin. Probably cause she wanted to `introduce' herself to Emma's ex. The great life SHE was living. Thump. She jumped. Now she was getting way too paranoid. She'd thought there was a shadow at the curtain a minute ago. Nevertheless, she double-locked all of the doors, and proceeded to sit down on the cozy sofa with a book she'd been avoiding ever since she got here. "A Cry in the Night." Perfect night to read it, she thought. Thump. This time, she knew it wasn't her imagination. Maybe it's a raccoon or something, she thought. Or she hoped. Crack. "Ugh." The lights had gone out. She wasn't the best electrician, but she wanted the lights on to feel safe. She put her book down and made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight out of a drawer, planning on going to the power box. Bang. She quickly turned her head in shock. She almost dropped her flashlight. "Is anyone there?" Maybe the local electrician was doing rounds. Local electrician? Doing rounds? She was going out of her mind. Thump. "Damn it, who is it?!" Emma decided to pick up what looked like an instrument stand. That was the best she could do at the moment. She was shaking so hard. She heard another bang. It was like the sounds were closing in on her. Thump. Funny, that sounded like the intruder was IN the house. But she hadn't heard them fumbling with locks... Emma heard a knock. Then another one. "Shit," she muttered. "One, too..." Nightmare flashbacks of the Nightmare on Elm Street sped through her mind. "Freddy's coming for you..." `What?' she whispered. She couldn't believe that this was happening. But Emma was too occupied with trying to figure out who it was than to think back to scary movies. By now, she was certain it was a robber. So she decided to hide. She quietly put the stand down as well as her flashlight. She knew the house better than the robber did. She'd go into... the library. No way he'd go in there. She darted up the stairs quickly, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. She dashed into the library, and hid in between two bookshelves. She figured she'd stay here until the lights came back on, and by then he'd be gone. She was a coward. "But at least I'm not gonna die or anything," she said to herself. "Think again," came the raspy voice behind her. She didn't have time to turn around. Not even time to look back. Or maybe she did, she didn't know. But if she did, she saw no one. But it'd be hard for air to choke her as hard as the mystery figure did. Then she saw a knife. Just a knife. No hands, no nothing. Well, she couldn't be sure, with the tears blurring her vision. The knife was one of her own, used in the kitchen for the bigger stuff to chop. The knife stuck through her heart, and she saw her own blood gushing out. The next stab was through her throat, probably to make her shut up. She couldn't scream as loud anymore. No, she couldn't scream at all anymore. Her fingers could feel the blood dripping down her arm. She was trying as fast as possible to escape the tight grip of the stranger, but she couldn't. As she tried to squirm away, he only held on tighter. The last blow was another one through the heart. Right in the middle. The two tears in her heart soon became one huge hole that had blood just flowing out like a stream. The murderer figured it'd be fun to watch her suffer, because he knew she couldn't live, even if the paramedics arrived then. The figure at last broke free of Emma, and she tried to breathe. Slowly, if at all. She sunk down on the floor, trying to cover the blood that was rushing out now. With one bloody hand, she reached for the flashlight, and gave one good throw, somehow knowing she'd feel better knowing he'd leave with a good bruise or two. She threw with all her might, not knowing where it'd land, but hoping it'd hit the assailant. But all she saw was darkness sweep around her. Her body hit the floor with a thump. Little did she know that the flashlight DID go in the direction of where the murderer was. It was a perfect throw, actually. Yup. It went right through him. Chapter 1 "Hya, Scully." Scully groaned. She'd woken up with a dead-battery clock, cold shower, and heavy traffic. Now it was Perky Mulder. She responded by a roll of her eyes. "Ooh, did someone wake up on the wrong side-" "Shut up, Mulder." "Touchy, touchy. Well, I suppose being stuck with me on a 5 hour flight tomorrow isn't gonna help much, is it?" Scully sighed. "Now what?" "Well," Mulder turned on the projector. "It seems that there have been 3 murders within the last 2 months in Springfield. All three of them have been killed with some tool or thing you can find at a local K-Mart. Knife, hammer, and fireplace-" "Fireplace?" "The victim was burned because he was pushed into it. All three-" "No, a fireplace isn't a tool." "Scully?" "Hmmm?" Mulder sighed. She was getting back at him for her morning. "All of the victims were killed at different times of the day, meaning the murderer can be easily missed. He doesn't care about if anyone sees him." "A master of disguise." Mulder nodded. "Yeah, and he seems to know his way around, too. None of these victims have any known connection together." "Random murders?" "Could be, we don't know yet. That's why we're flying over there tomorrow." "Why are we handing it? What's the catch?" "Why, what do you mean, Ms. Scully?" Scully closed her eyes. She was on the verge of screaming her way out of this. It was a struggle for her to get out here, she was sick. At least, she thought she was. She hadn't taken the time to take her temperature this morning, she was already late. Now, she was feeling worse by the minute. "Mulder," she warned. "Well, the deaths aren't what you'd call you're average deaths." "What?" "They're all done by ghosts." Her headache still hadn't gone away. And flying didn't help, either. She thought that after 7 years of flying with Mulder and a million more headaches, she'd be fine, but Mulder had picked that day to be an ass. "Did you finish reading the report?" "Yes, Mulder. I thought I'd get some sleep after you asked me that for the 20th time, thank you." "Well, do you have any questions?" "This isn't school." "Still. Do you have any questions?" "No. Don't you have a book or anything to read?" "I read it while we were waiting for the flight." "All of it?" "It was the Sunday comics." Scully sighed. She decided to get some shut-eye and hope Mulder got the point. He didn't. "Are you sure you don't have any questions about this? I mean, you rolled your eyes a lot yesterday, I don't know if you heard everything." "I heard everything, Mulder." "What'd you hear?" Scully gave up. Once again, she sighed. She sat up. "We're investigating the murder of a Jamie Greene, a Jake Clark, and an Emily Thomas. They've all been murdered with not one witness in sight, and the murderer seems to have not left any trace of himself whatsoever. After we check in, we're meeting the Thomas's because you-" she smiled tightly, "volunteered to do a questioning on them, to get a better feel for the case." She paused. "That OK?" "That was better than I'd expected." "Expected or hoped?" Mulder grinned. He remembered. He turned to face the back of the seat in front of him, and Scully thought, "Finally." "We are nearing the end of this flight, ladies and gentlemen," the loud speaker sounded. Scully was NOT expecting that. She jumped in her seat, and grabbed Mulder's arm, which was laying peacefully on the armrest that was attached to her own. "Jumpy, are we?" Scully quickly gathered herself together, and she brought a hand to her forehead. Mulder looked at her. "You OK?" Scully looked back at him. "Mulder, I- I... I'm fine." "You don't look it." "I guess I just wasn't ready for another case, that's all. Not yet, anyway." "Do you need any medicine or anything? We should stop by a drug store on the way or something." "Mulder, I'm fine," Scully insisted. "Are you sure? I mean, we coul-" "Mulder, as I've stated more than enough times already, I am perfectly fine." Now she was getting irritated. Mulder took the hint and sat back in his seat again. As the plane descended, Mulder began, "Are you su-" "Mulder, I'M FINE!" she shouted. By this time, the roaring of the plane had died, and the passengers turned to look at the fighting couple. "Going through a divorce, huh?" the man in front of them chuckled. The woman next to him, presumably his wife, elbowed him. Scully sighed. Again. "I'm fine," she repeated. Mulder, surprised by the outburst, took his belongings and quietly left with Scully, even offering to take her stuff. She knew it was a truce deal, but refused anyway. "Yeah, you're fine, right?" Mulder asked. She looked at him, not believing he wouldn't let that down. "Let it go, Mulder." "So-rry." She didn't know how she dealt with him. He didn't know how he dealt with her. She'd been in a pissy mood all morning, and he'd tried to lighten the situation by squeezing in a few jokes for Scully's sake. He thought she'd get over whatever she was on this time, and go with him without a fight. Well, they blew that, didn't they? About 8 people he'd never seen before asked him if he and his `wife' were OK. They didn't speak for the long drive to their motel and checking in, as well. Then they just immediately headed for the Thomas's. Mulder knocked on the door 3 times. "Hello? Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, it's Agents Mulder and Scully. We're with the FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions." The door cautiously opened. "Yes?" Mulder and Scully showed their badges. "Is this about Emma?" "Yes, yes this is. Um, Mrs. Thomas?" "Yes, that's me. Oh, and do come in, sorry." She unlocked the locks that, Scully noticed, were clearly added recently. `I don't blame her, though. This town hasn't had many murders. `Till recently,' she thought. The agents stepped in and took in the sight of the home. This was obviously a wealthy neighborhood, one that took pride in their valuable furniture and paintings and such. "Aren't you here to ask me about Emma?" Mrs. Thomas asked hurriedly. "I'd like to get this over with, please." They sat, and Mulder began, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but where is Mr. Thomas? "He's at work. Now let's begin," she answered shortly. Mulder and Scully shared a look. Mulder then began, "Mrs. Thomas, did Emma have any enemies to speak of?" "No, she didn't seem to be bothered at all by anyone... Well..." "Yes?" "She'd just broken up with her boyfriend, but she was the one doing the braking up, so I doubt Bryan had anything to do with it." Mulder asked some more questions, but Scully was bothered by the fact that this didn't even seem like a real X-File at all. Why were they here anyway? Why was she here? Oh, yeah. Ghosts. Right. Scully let a small sigh escape. Although Mrs. Thomas wasn't one to notice, Mulder could tell something was troubling Scully. He figured he should finish this quickly to get to Scully. It wasn't like they were going anywhere anyway with this conversation. "Can we have the exact location of Emma's cabin?" As Mrs. Thomas gave them the directions, Scully debated whether or not to tell Mulder about the fact that her mind had wondered off to him ditching her. It HAD been a while, but she still hadn't confronted him with the fact yet. "And do you know where Emma's boyfriend might be?" After a brief pause, the woman gave out his apartment address as well, stating that he did seem to be `devastated by their braking up'. "Is that all?" Mrs. Thomas asked. "Yes, I think so," Mulder said. "Please don't hesitate to call this number, though." He gave her his cell phone number. "I will be sure to contact you for any new information, Mr. Mulder," she answered. She seemed nicer when Mulder and Scully were getting ready to leave. They got up, and Mrs. Thomas led them to the door. "Goodbye." With that, the door slammed shut, the lock following. "Not a very talkative person, is she?" "Mulder, did you notice how hesitant she was about everything? It was like she was almost afraid to tell us those things." "Well, it's common for victims' relatives to be cautious about everything after a death," Mulder said while shrugging. They got in the car, planning to go and take a visit to where Emma died. Mrs. Thomas watched the car leave in the dark. She was shaking horribly. She was terrified at how much information she gave them. She replayed the scene back in her head. She wasn't thinking when she had the interview; she was so focused on getting them out of there. They made her nervous. She was trying to remember something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Old age had done that to her. "What did I tell them?" she asked herself. She wasn't sure if it was too important, but at the same time, she didn't know how serious it was. She heard a knock. Then another. "No... no... " She tried to convince herself that it was her imagination. "One... two... Freddy's..." "Noo-" a hand was quickly brought over her mouth. "...Coming." Mrs. Thomas could feel the stranger grinning. "For you." "I didn't ted them amythim," she tried to mumble through the hand. She saw a knife in the air. She could see the small light in the room reflecting off of the weapon. Her desperate pleas turned to hysterical cries. "Please... please. I DIDN'T TED TH-" There was a quick stab through her throat. She tried to gasp. The blood was coming out quicker she thought it would making her life span shorter. "Pl-" she croaked. She could hardly speak. The stranger moved the knife down to where her stomach was. Mrs. Thomas's hands were partly free and she grabbed a hold of a potted plant and threw it behind her. But as she thought, it did nothing. "You weren't supposed to tell them," he said quietly. Mrs. Thomas had stopped pushing him away by now. She was too weak. She didn't even try to answer him. This was how she was going to die. "Oh, she put up a more fight than you," the stranger continued. "Oh, well. Tell Emma I said hi." With that came the final blow to her stomach. After a quick count of three, the slayer made a tear through her stomach to make the blood flow quicker. Finally, she was released. The murderer withdrew and watched her die, just like all the others. It's not like he was afraid of any neighbors coming in. Hell, he didn't even HAVE any emotions. His smile grew wider at the thought. The woman was kneeling down, and was getting worse by the second. Human instinct told her to cover the holes with her hands. Not like that did much. It was going way too fast and she'd already lost a huge amount of blood already. She tried to stay up as long as possible, but it was impossible. She swiftly looked to the right. Then to the left. She couldn't see him but she knew he was there. She grew dizzy, until she couldn't see anymore. There was still some blood left in her system, but not enough to even keep her head up. With a small cry of defeat, Mrs. Thomas- or what was left of her- lay in the middle of a puddle of blood as the figure made his escape. Chapter 2 When Mulder and Scully got back to the cabin, it was beginning to get dark. "Mulder, we should go back. Unless you don't want to sleep tonight. Not that you ever do." Scully paused. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to." Mulder grinned. "Well, what would be the fun of spending time with me if you ever slept?" With a sigh, Scully answered, "Well, it'd be nice to get some sleep after a 5 hour plane ride and long morning." "You said you were fine." "Mulder..." "All right, all right." They were at the cabin then, thank God. They got out of the car and Mulder asked, "Scully? What if Mrs. Thomas was crazy enough to kill her own daughter. I mean, did you see how she didn't care too much about her husband? Probably married him for money. What if Emma had enough to-" "So this ISN'T an X-File?" "I don't know..." Scully groaned. "Then why'd we come out here?!" "I just happened to come out here once and I-" "You were already here? Without me?" "Relax, Scully. I didn't do anything. I just came to get a background check on someone and I stumbled on this case." "I bet you did, Mulder." Mulder didn't reply, only opened the door which was unlocked. "Guess everyone's done with the murder, huh?" They explored the territory, and Scully noted that all of the doors were locked except the front one, which the police probably were careless enough to leave open. "Where's the library?" she asked. "Huh?" "The library," she repeated. "The report said that the body was found in the library." "Oh, yeah. Upstairs, probably." They ascended up the stairs. On the first door to the right was the library. Three bookshelves later, they found the body's chalk mark. There was still a bloodstain on the carpet. "Was she looking for a book down there or was she hiding from the killer?" "Report says hiding. And you were the one grilling me about reading about it before." Mulder shrugged. After giving him a Look, Scully said, "What were you saying before, about Mrs. Thomas?" "Nothing. It's not important. How about we go to what's his name... Bryan's?" "Why are you in such a hurry?" "What good's it gonna do staying here?" Mulder reasoned. "The report's already done. They labeled the case homicide-" "I got that, yeah. Then why are we here?" "Exactly my point." "No, Mulder, why are we here? In this town?" "You already asked me that." "Yes, but now it's like you wanna get this over with," Scully told him. `I wanna know what's wrong with you,' he thought. "Then do you wanna go to the motel and go to Bryan's in the morning?" "Fine." "Fine." They both got out of the cabin and got in their car. Scully got to the driver's side first. "Keys?" Mulder sighed. "What? You wanna drive? Why can't I drive?" "'Cause I'm the big-" "Macho man. Right. Then be a `macho man' and hand over the keys." Mulder, giving up for the moment, fetched the keys from his pocket. "Want it? Come and get it." With that, he ran over to the passenger's side, opened the door, and went inside. He slid over to the driver's side, and Scully thought he'd unlock the door for her. It's never that easy. Instead, he sat down the driver's side, with the passenger's side door still unlocked. He gestured over to the next seat. "Mulder!" she hollered. "Get in the seat, Scully." She gave him a long look. "You are being such a child." She tried to be indignant about it, but Mulder saw a smile creep up. She caught him looking at her. "What?" "Nothing." "Sure, Mulder." For the rest of the ride to their motel, Scully faced the window, not wishing to be breathing the same air as Mulder. They got to their rooms, and Scully escaped, closing their adjoining doors. And locked it. "All this `cause I wouldn't let you drive?" he yelled through the door. It was about 3 hours later, and Mulder was working on unpacking. He'd been chewing on sunflower seeds and enjoying the extra channel he got, while Scully opened the door. "I can't sleep with that thing on." "You haven't been asleep for 3 hours?" "Mulder?" "What?" Scully paused. "Why do you ditch me?" Mulder sat up. This was gonna be a long one. "What?" "Why do you ditch me?" "I don't ditch you, Scully." "Yes, you do. You just did, what, two weeks ago?" "For what?" "Mulder, on that little cruise over here. You didn't' even tell me where you where." "I didn't realize you needed to know." Scully stood there in shock at what he'd said. "What?" Oops. "Well, it wasn't a very big deal to me, and-" "Mulder, do you understand what partners are for? To back each other up, to help each other, to know where the other person IS! And Mulder, I am just so tired of you not telling me where you're going. And that stupid trip you took to the Triangle? Do you realize how close you were to death? And, oh, then of course it was up to me and the Gunman to save your damn ass. One day I'm not gonna be there, Mulder. One day, I'm just not going to be there." Mulder hadn't heard this before. So this was what was bothering her. For 7 years. "I- I am... sorry," he said slowly. "I don't think you mean that, Mulder." He stood up and went over to where she was. Scully went on, "Mulder... I don't think I can do this anymore." She meant that. "What?" Mulder whispered. "I can't do this... I can't follow you around just so I can save you and get you out of the things you somehow get yourself into." "No, Scully... you can't go... I need you on this." "No, no you don't Mulder. You've... been on your own all along." Oh my God. What am I saying? Scully had a sudden flashback. To his hallway. Oh, crap. How'd she gotten there? Apparently, Mulder was thinking the same thing. Without, a word, he went over and embraced her. Scully didn't hesitate to hug him back. They stood there for a moment, and Scully's tears began falling. "I can't let you get away, Scully," Mulder said quietly into Scully's hair. "I can't." "Mulder..." "Shhhh..." As the moon shown above them, they stood there for the longest time, just rocking. Rrrrrriiiinnggg went Mulder cell phone. He was in bed with Scully. No, nothing had happened. They'd fallen asleep in each other's arms, and the last thing Scully had said to him was, "I can't leave you, Mulder. I won't..." With that, she'd gone to sleep, and Mulder began to count his blessings. His arm reached over Scully's onto the nightstand next to her. "Hello," he murmured. He sat up, suddenly, waking Scully. "What is it?" she asked him. Mulder mouthed, "Dead body." "Mmmhmm. Yes, we'll be right there." He hung up. "That was Detective Parson. Mrs. Thomas was found dead by her husband late last night." They quickly got ready, not saying anything of the night before, only a few glimpses between each other, like a telepathic way of saying, "It's gonna be OK." They drove to the Thomas's, and found the police cars still scattered around the driveway. Mr. Thomas was shaken up and answering questions. They got out of the car and approached Detective Parson. He noticed them coming up, and they caught up with him. "It looks like the same way it was done with her daughter," he said. "What'd you mean?" "Well, no witnesses, no one to hear the pleas, and no sign of forced entry. The murderer seemed to know the Thomas's well to be let in by both the mother and daughter without force." "Well, are you sure the murderer didn't let himself in?" Scully asked. "I mean, that happens a lot. What about mailmen, delivery men, the people who stop by every so often?" "We're into that," the detective said. "But I don't know. It was like she was expecting him. Not as a delivery man. As a murderer. All of the doors had been previously locked, all the curtains drawn, the security alarm on all the way. But weird thing is, none of that seemed to bother the killer. He didn't set off the alarm, none of the locks had been messed with... It's as if the killer disappeared in and out like a ghost," Greene said, laughing. Scully gave small polite smile, and Mulder raised his eyebrows at the word, `ghost'. He opened the door to the house. "Neighbors reported some banging inside at around 4 p.m. yesterday. Her body was found in the living room. Everything's still intact. You can have a look, now, if you'd like." "Thanks, detective." "It's my job," he yelled as he walked down the driveway. "Well, Scully, things are beginning to look up, now, aren't they?" "Mulder..." "Hmm?" he asked innocently. "OK. If this is, indeed, a ghost's work-" "Why Scully, I-" "Humor me. If it is a ghost, then how would it make the banging noises that were heard and how would it disappear through the walls just like that? Are you gonna tell me that the ghost can choose when to be able to pick up things and when to be able to walk through things?" "Ghosts can be tricksters, Scully." With a sigh, she followed him into the living room. They saw the body's mark left where Mrs. Thomas had died. "Mulder, when did we leave?" "At about 3:30 to 4?" "Didn't the detective say she died around 4? What if the murderer was in the house, waiting for us to leave? We should've searched the house." Mulder kneeled down. "Are you listening?" "No," he answered. "Scully, look at this." He pointed to the dirt that had been spilled by the broken pot next to it. She couldn't see anything. "What?" "Come closer. Look at this." He pointed to some spots in the dirt. There were footprints in it, ones you could barely make out. Mulder looked at Scully. "I'm thinking of paying a visit to Bryan." Chapter 3 Scully was surprised when he suggested that. There were no clues that pointed to him. No evidence that he was any murderer. But she didn't know how his mind worked half the time. Hell, she didn't even know if he had a mind, half the time. Anyhow, they'd ended up at Bryan's apartment within an hour, and Bryan actually didn't seem to be all that surprised. "Come in," he said after they showed their badge. They stepped inside. The apartment obviously cost a lot of money, and it was furnished with style- and possibly, a professional decorator. "Nice place you got here," Mulder noted. "Where do you work?" "At a building." Bryan paused. "A friend gave me the money for the apartment," he said hesitantly. Mulder and Scully noticed this. Scully got straight to the point. "I'm here to talk about the murder of Mrs. Thomas and her daughter, Emma. You were once linked with Emma, is that right?" "Once," Bryan agreed. "We express our grief. In fact, I went over there yesterday to offer my sorrows to Mrs. Thomas." "We? Do you have a roommate or something?" "We? No... no. We as in, in my family. We and the Thomas's were close." "Really. When's their funeral, do you know?" "I'm not sure at the moment. The family's still making plans." That was true. "Do you mind if we take a look around here?" "What, you think I had something do with it? I did not kill them!" Bryan raged. "We're not saying you did," Scully said ever so calmly. Inside, she was totally surprised by the quick fury that Bryan had displayed. They searched the apartment. They found the regular bachelor stuff like a computer, radio, TV, books, the usual. No signs of a homicidal maniac living here. They both decided they'd come back later, when they'd gathered more clues. "Well, thank you for you're time," Scully said as she and Mulder were escorted towards the door. Bryan was smiling now, obviously happy that they'd found nothing. "No problem." They went out, and waited until they were in the car to start talking. "Something about him bothers me," Mulder said. "Well, I don't think he gets out too much. All of the things in there were mainly for indoor use. No skates, no-" "No basketballs, no magazines-" Scully rolled her eyes. "You'd know, Mulder. And did you notice that there wasn't one single picture of his family? And yet they were all close with the Thomas'?" "I'll do a check up on him," Mulder offered. "While you do that, I'll go and see if Mr. Thomas is free." Mulder was back at the motel, and had set up his laptop. He went into the FBI personal files, and then thought better of it. He thought he'd better call someone. He picked up her cell phone and dialed the Lone Gun Men's number. Scully had driven back to the Thomas' after dropping off Mulder. She saw that the place had pretty much packed up for the day, and that Mr. Thomas was getting ready to go inside. "Mr. Thomas, can I have a word?" Scully asked, holding his badge up. Mr. Thomas turned around. His eyes were looked as if he'd been crying recently, and that he needed a lot of sleep. "What can I help you with? Haven't I answered enough questions already?" "Sir, if you would..." "What now?" Scully could tell this wasn't going to be easy. It had been about an hour or two, and Mr. Thomas was going on and on about his life's story and how his wife didn't love him as much as he loved her or something or other. And Scully had gotten nowhere. Every time she tried to sneak a question in, Mr. Thomas would just go on about another one of his heroic saves in the military. Finally, Scully had had enough of this, and said, "Mr. Thomas, it's been a pleasure," and escaped without another word. Scully made it into her car without Mr. Thomas blurting out another one of his `stories' and drove faster than she was admittedly supposed to back to the motel. He opened his door, and saw Mulder typing at a fast rate, guessing he had a more productive evening than she. "What's up?" Mulder finally looked up and noticed that she was even there. "Oh, I found some things. Or, the Gunmen did. But I'm typing `em," he said. Scully went over to his desk. "Finally doing some work." Mulder grinned. What'ya find?" "Well," he said, "you know how Bryan said that his family and the Thomas' were close?" Scully nodded. "It turns out the two families didn't even meet. His parents are dead. They died of unknown causes earlier and he had no other siblings. His closest relatives lived in Denmark so he grew up in foster homes. When he grew older, he was very careful in choosing who to trust, and, apparently, didn't have many people around him. His first girlfriend was Jamie Greene but she died of unnatural causes, the first death in this case. It was first assumed that Bryan had killed her, because only a couple of days earlier, Jake Clark had died, and she had been cheating on Bryan with Jake, and Bryan might have killed Jake out of jealousy, and Jamie out of distrust. Adding further into the motive, if Jamie had died, he would get a share of the will, as she would if he'd died. But no matter what, the police couldn't find any connections with Jamie's and Jake's deaths and Bryan, so he was clear." "And you're guessing he's not." "I do have an explanation, if you wanna hear it." "Oh, good." "Well, oh, Sarcastic One, just wait. Do you remember Matilda?" "What?!" "Matilda. She became such an outcast and had such big mind that she could create powers?" "But Mulder, that was a book. And that has nothing to do with this case. And that Bryan didn't seem like the smartest guy in town, either." "Hardly," he agreed. "But... what if his loneliness created something. Like a friend, a companion?" Scully raised an eyebrow. "And what if he could control him to do anything he wanted?" "Like a robot?" "An invisible robot. Like an invisible friend... get it?" Scully just stood there, disbelieving. "An invisible friend that kills for sport?" "No, no, not one that kills for sport, one that kills because it's controlled to kill. Bryan can tell him who to kill or if he feels any hatred or jealousy towards anyone, then..." he made a invisible slash mark with his hand on his throat. "Mulder, you just can't create a person with your imagination." "I'm not saying he did. I'm saying that his loneliness and his situations and his life formed a killer." "Then what's the connection between Mrs. Thomas and Bryan?" "Bryan said he went over to Mrs. Thomas' two days before she died? If that's true, then what if somehow, Bryan slipped his secret to her accidentally, as you said, not being the brightest person in the universe, and threatened to have her killed if she told any valuable information? And notice that she died right after we left." "Mulder, she didn't tell us anything." "She gave us his address." "So, we could've looked it up." "But remember, the killer can act on feeling, not just command. So the littlest thing that upsets Bryan can end in death" "If that were true, than thousands of people would be dead by now." "Well, then, good thing he's not too popular. Hasn't everyone that's ever gotten close to him died?" Scully raised an eyebrow again. "If- and this is a very big if, if he did have this invisible killing friend, then what would destroy it?" Mulder had a look on his face that said, `Duh'. "Why, you kill the creator, of course." Scully, not believing Mulder's theory too well, decided to try her luck at the local police office to see what she could find. Meanwhile, Mulder would go to Bryan's to try and confront him and- what, to admit to having an imaginary friend? Scully wondered. She got to the police office and located Detective Parson, the head on this investigation. "Detective Parson," she called out. He looked up from the files he was looking through. "Hey, Agent Scully. Where's your partner?" "He's uh, looking into the murderer. He went to Bryan Dunson's place for some more questioning." "What a coincidence. We were going over there, too, after the final piece of evidence comes back." Scully was curious enough to ask, "Why do you plan on going there?" "Well, we found fingerprints of his laying on the curtain, some books on murder mysteries, the sofa, and a lot of other places, where as a visitor might only have them on a cup or the sofa or something. Especially if he'd never been there before. We accessed his computer files, and we found out that he'd recently looked up Mrs. Thomas' address. He told us he'd never been there before." Scully remembered that Bryan had told them he'd gone there to `express his grief'. "He'd only been to Emma's place, which was about 45, 55 minutes from the parent's house." "So you're going to arrest him?" Scully asked. The evidence, if put against her interview with Bryan, was nothing. "We're gonna have to question him one more time, see if he remembers what lies he told us, and then once we have him trapped, what else to do but cuff him?" "Um, I'd look a little deeper, first," Scully told him. Clearly, this wasn't the brightest police officer. "Do you have any information?" "Well, I- what if he went over to grieve and he was sympathetic even though he didn't know her that well?" She suddenly felt a chill. She shivered uncontrollably. "You OK?" "Yeah... yeah. Did you feel that?" "I didn't, but there's a window open behind you, don't worry." She turned around. There was a small window with the glass part open about an inch. She shook the strange feelings she had away. "So, besides that, you don't have anything new?" "Nope, but if you come back by tomorrow, we'll know who Bryan is." Somehow, Scully doubted that. Mulder had driven up to Bryan's apartment once again, and even before he'd knocked on the door, Bryan opened it. "Come in," he said, looking nervously to the left and right. Mulder, even though was kind of freaked out, went in calmly. "How'd you know I was there?" "I was watching you from the window. I know what you know about me." "How do I know that you know what I know about you?" Bryan sighed. "He told me. Telepathically." "Who? Telepathically?" Mulder couldn't believe this. "You know who. My `friend'. He... saw you talking about him yesterday." "In my motel? He followed me there?" "He did. Fred." "Fred?" Mulder asked. "I named him after my late father." "When did `Fred' appear?" Bryan told him, "When I was just a child. My parents had just died and my foster parents weren't ready to be parents. So he just sort of... appeared. I could see him, but none of my friends or `parents' could. I thought that was like a gift. For being alone. So I grew closer to him and further apart from the `real' people in my life. Then when I found out that Jamie was cheating on me with Jake, I got rid of Jake first, then after Jamie confessed everything to me, I killed her, too. Well, Fred did... And then he killed Emma because she broke us off. He didn't get that it was OK for me. We're always upset when you don't know if the person you love the most doesn't love you back, right?" Mulder nodded. After a brief silence, Bryan said, "You love her, don't you?" Mulder took a sharp breath. "I- who?" "Fred even noticed it. And he only saw you that one night. He tells me he sees it in your eyes. And that he sees it in her, too." Mulder laughed nervously. "Don't be ashamed of it, I wish I had it with Jamie and Emma. But that's why I'm sorry." "For what?" "For Fred. He- he's going to kill her." Mulder stared at Bryan. "Kill who?" "You know who. Your partner. He thinks she knows too much. He didn't go after you because... I don't know. I guess you seemed sort of an outcast yourself. But if you wanna save her, you'd better go now. She's at the motel. She's not in the safety of the police anymore. She's at the motel. Go now. I can't control him anymore." "You're coming with me," Mulder ordered. "Wh- why?" "Because you can see him. You're the only one that knows exactly where he is and what his next move's gonna be." "But what if I die-" "Come ON! I'm not gonna let her die!" Stunned by this, and this man being a federal officer, Bryan followed his directions and rode back to the motel with him. `Well, two strikes,' Scully thought. She'd gotten nowhere with the officer, either. If anything, she'd given him all the clues. Scully sighed. She wondered how Mulder was doing. She was always wondering how she was doing. They hadn't talked about that night where she said that she'd have to leave. Hell, it wasn't any different than any other unresolved moments. She heard a soft knock on the door. Immediately, she called out, "Mulder?" After hearing no answer, she decided to leave it. It could've be a strong wind or something. All of the sudden, she was knocked on the head. She automatically reached for her gun. It wasn't where she'd kept it all along. She could only try and keep her head from spinning. It was kind of difficult, though. She wasn't sure what she'd been hit with, but it was with something pretty hard. Fred was standing about 5 feet away from her now. He had her gun pointed at her head. Three shots would be enough, he decided. At that moment, Mulder burst in, with Bryan right behind him. Bryan saw Fred with the gun, pointed directly where he saw his mother was shot. "Noooooooooooo!" he yelled as he dove in front of Scully. The three shots were too quick to stop, and there were two stuck in his chest and one in his forehead, killing him instantly. Epilogue Scully's report: Bryan Fred Dunson died of three fatal shots that came from an anonymous shooter. The identity of the killer remains unsolved. As for the other deaths, the fingerprints were just some of the evidence that Detective Parson had found. All of this points to Bryan as the murderer. Agent Mulder believes this `Fred' shot his own originator, which therefore made him die instantly as well. I can honestly say I don't know what to believe because I was not all conscious at the time, so the killer could've been anyone. Were we seeing a figure of our imagination, or a figure created by imagination, feeling, and hope? We'll never know. This file still stands as unsolved. CSM's report: Mulder has gone back to being a paranoid but brilliant agent, and Scully has gone back to being the un-trusting but critical and intelligent one. They've gone back to trusting each other completely, and worshipping the ground the other stands on. Everything's gone back to normal. They were extremely close in losing each other, but that plan has failed. Our test subject AJS1713 has died of mortal wounds. We must come up with a new plan; something has interfered with our old ones. Agent Mulder has finally told Agent Scully he loved her.