Subject: Watermark--Exile Dedicated to Enya not just because she inspired this tale, but alos because she's so damn cool. Watermark-- Exile In his dreams, he could hear it. In his dreams, he could see it. In his dreams, he would be standing on a wide, pale shore, looking across the water. And a unicorn, as black as the midnight sky sweapt of stars, with a golden horn sprouting from her brow, her dark green eyes flashing. And she sang her evil song to punish him: "Cold as the northen wings in December mornings, cold is the cry that rings from this far distant shore..." "...a new moon leads me to woods of dreams and I follow. A new world waits for me; my dream, my way. I know that if I have heaven there is nothing to desire..." "Mulder," came Scully's voice, rude and interrupting, "what are you doing?" Mulder shut his eyes breifly before opening them again and finding his place on the page: "...rain and river, a world of wonder may be pardise to me..." "Mulder," Scully called again, this time impaitently, "are you still reading that book?" He tried to shut her out and continued reading: "One told me of China Roses, one a thousand nights and..." "Mulder." Scully's hand suddenly swiped infront of his eyes and he flintched, dropping the thick, hardcover book onto his lap. He sighed and looked up at his partner, standing before him with her hands now on her hips...in a dark blue bathing suit. Mulder's lips quirked, surpressing a smile. But he couldn't help that his eys had nearly bugged out of his skull. "Your going in that?" Mulder asked, wanting to flatter his partner. "You ought to go in a two piece." It worked. Scully smiled and turned around quickly. "C-mon, Mulder, get your suit on and come swimming." Mulder suddenly felt uneasy in his comfortable armchair in his hotel room. He had been enjoying himself reading. He didn't feel like swimming...besides, this book was just TOO good to put down... "Ummm," Mulde moaned softly, repoening his book. "I don't want to go swimming." Scully frowned, slapping the back side of his head quickly and lightly, but making sufre it was just sharp enough for him to put down that damn book and pay attention to her. It worked. "Don't you dare, Mulder..." "I'm tired," Mulder wined."I don't want to go swimming. I quite happy in here, reading, in my nice AIRCONDITIONED room." And Mulder's eyes quickly skimmed the page untill he found his place. "No way, Mulder," Scully snapped, snatching the book from him. "You and I have been stuck on this damn case for weeks. Now that it's over, I plan on relaxing and taking little vacation." She eyed Mulder warily. "This case....Mulder, you can't pretend you didn't get personally involved. You need a little relaxation just as much as I do." Scully threw her arms around her partner's neck and pulled herself closer to him as she said, "And I think right now you and I could use a little dip in the water." Mulder paused. Yes. He HAD gotten personally involved....how could he not? That poor little girl...Iduna Raleigh. She had only been nine years old and she had been witness to the grusem murder of her parents. When Mulder had first gone to see the little girl, Iduna had been in such a deep state of shock that she mistook him for her father and ran to him crying, threw her arms around him and said, "Daddy! Daddy! Don't leave me!" She had stayed like that for weeks. She wouldn't leave Mulder's side and always clutched to his hand. No one could convince her that Mulder was not her father and they had all finally given. Mulder had played daddy for that whole time. He looked after her, taking this temporary father job seriously. Day in and day out Mulder had talked to Iduna soothingly, trying to ease her fears. He tucked her in a night and told her stories from Iduna's favorite book: 'Storms In Africa and Other Legends'. Iduna always gave Mulder great big hugs and told him, "I love you." And he always replied, "I love you, too." When others asked him about his devotion to the child, he brushed it off as trying to gain the child's trust untill he could find out information. But Scully could see past his lie. She saw how happy Mulder was with Iduna. Happier then she could ever remember Mulder being. He would spin her around and she would laugh and he was happy. He promised he wouldn't ever let anything happen to her. One night he left her in a safe house so he could investigate. Iduna had begged him not to go, but he had soothed her fears and told her stories and sang to her untill she was compleatly at ease and went to sleep. That very night, the murderer of her parents killed the little girl in her sleep. At the end of the case, the team of FBI agents had cornered the man in a warehouse. Mulder went in. When, Scully, who had been near by, heard the sound of gunshots, she rushed to her partner to find him standing over the body of the dead killer, still shooting. "She was my baby!" Mulder had screamed hysterically at the dead man. "She was mine!" Scully had watched in horror as Mulder continued to shoot untill the clip was emptied. Mulder's chest burned suddenly and he looked back down at Iduna's book and realized it wasn't there and remebered Scully had taken it from him. He was about to ask for it back, but when he opened his mouth, Scully placed a gentle finger over his lips. "Mulder. Get. Out. Of. Here. Go. Swimming." Mulder groaned and nodded, heading for his suit case. "All I have is a little red speedo." "I don't care! There's an entire beach out there and no one'll be there but the two of us so nobody else'll care either. I'll meet you outside," and with that, she left his room. Mulder changed quickly, groaning at the conditon of his body, he hadn't had a good excersie in weeks. But he couldn't wiggle out of this one: Scully would take no excuse. Glancing at himself one more time in the mirror, he caught a suddenly movement. It was there. It was singing agerily: "Winter has come too late. Too close beside me. How can I chase away all these fears deep inside?" He reacted by not reacting: he didn't gasp, didn't blink, just staired at the black unicorn behind him for a moment and quickly grabbed his towel and went outside. He walked down the beach. The air was humid and moist. It was still early morning, but the temperature was sky high. Scully had been right: no one else was on the shore. Perhapse it was because there wern't that many people at the hotle because it was still too early in the season. Maybe everyone was enjoying themselves in their air conditoned rooms. The sand was pale white, glittering like diomonds in the dawn. Somewhere beyond the dune, Mulder saw Scully in the water allready. Up to her knees, she fought the breakers. Behind him, Mulder heard the dull thuding of large, round hooves clopping against the sand. He didn't bother to turn his head, he knew it was the unicorn. It was following him. It had been following him for a while now and it didn't bother him anymore. And since the damn thing never stayed in one spot long enough for him to get a good look at it, he ignored it just so the beast didn't get a kick outta him going nuts trying to see it. Mulder dropped his towel and walked into the crashing waves, pretending he couldn't hear the unicorn's annoyed snorts because it couldn't go into the water. Scully was busy enjoying herself, dunking her head under the water and spraying sea foam everywhere. Mulder watched her, intruiged. She seemed so care free and happy. He couldn't even pretend to be happy. Yet there his partner was splashing away as if she didn't have a care in the world. "I'll wait the signs to come. I'll find a way. I will wait the signs to come. I'll find a way home." The words came suddenly, slapping him awake. He spun around, trying to face a unicorn that he saw was no longer standing there. So he shouted at the empty air, "Now you cut that out!!" "Mulder?" Mulder turned. Scully was climbing out of the water. "Mulder, is something wrong?" Mulder shut his eyes. "No, of course not." And he quickly walked past her into deeper water. He dived down under the warm waves, listing to the odd, echoy sounds of the crashing waves. It was nice. Soothing. He glided under the water, as if he were flying. He forced his eyes open, he had never liked having his eyes open under water, it stung. But he wanted to see. And though he only saw it for a moment, he saw the glittering shells below reflecting the sunlight. He resurfaced, feeling refreshed. He dived under again, kicking like a dolphin and for a minute, pretending he was a whale. When he resurfaced, he turned on his back and gulped some air and quickly dived back down, like a whale dose. Later, when he swam back to shallower water, he laughed at his own sillyness, but honestly didn't care. His feet touched the sandy bottom and he walked along awkwardly. Now, up to his neck, he saw a few feet ahead of him a large animal. It was the unicorn. Before he could get a better look at it, a wave came, pushing him under for a moment. He resurfaced, sputtering and the unicorn was gone. Frightened a little now, he swam back to shore where Scully was laying on the sand. She called his name and he ignored her, walked past her and climbing the first high dune he saw. From that high pearch, he looked around and saw no unicorn. But he could hear her singing. "My light shall be the moon and my path--the ocean. My guide--the morning star as I sail home to you." "No!" Mulder yelled at the wind. "I don't want you to sail home to me! Go away!" "Mulder?" He looked down. Scully was climbing up the dune. Her face looked worried. "Mulder, who are you talking to?" Mulder was angery. "That damned unicorn!" He recived from Scully a blank stare. Then, that expression gradually became anxious and uneasy. "What are you talking about?" Flustered, Mulder promptly sat down on the dune and started rambling. "Iduna," he snapped. "I love her...I really do. But she's dead and she shouldn't be following me around!" Scully paused just as she reached him. Her eyes were concerned and...troubled. Almost afraid. "What do you mean, Mulder seighed, catching a glimpse of the unicorn behind his partner then disappearing behind the dune. "When I was taking care of Iduna, every night she would ask me to read her a story. It was the same story every night and it came from that book..."Storms in Africa." The story was about a little boy named Yoseph who believed in unicorns. In big, black unicorns with golden horns. Iduna believed in them, too." He took a breath. "Anyway, Yoseph also believed that when people die, they lived on forever in the form of dreams. In the story, Yoseph was sick and in the end, he died and the people who knew him all had dreams about black unicorns." Mulder lowered his head. "I'm having nightmares of a black unicorn. That would be okay, but now it wont leave me alone. It's been following me around for days and it's driving me crazy." "Mulder, I think we'd better go inside. You've had enough time in the water." Mulder didn't catch the frightened tone in his partner's voice nor did he noticed how she had rushed the words. He said okay and stood up to follow his partner. But just then, he saw the unicorn at the base of the dune. It reared and sang out: "I'll wait the signs to come! I'll find a way! I will wait the time to come! I'll find a way home!" "Shut up, you Goddamned thing!" Mulder screamed, pushing Scully away so quickly she almost fell. "Your not real! I don't believe in you!" The unicorn mearly stood there, a demon come back to haunt him, punish him for leaving her alone. "ENOUGH!!!" Mulder roared. "Goddamn you! Enough!" Before Scully could do anything, Mulder was walking briskly down the sandly sloap. "It wasn't my fault! How dare you do this to me! You don't exist!" The demon unicorn glanced away, freeing Mulder temporarily from it's evil gaze. "You can't have my soul!" Mulder yelled, pulling back his fist and punching the unicorn. It flintched, blenching back, then glaring at him. Mulder felt fear, but he pushed it away. The unicorn reared up, striking it's hooves at Mulder. They pounded against his body, throwing him to the earth. Mulder covered his face from the flying hooves. But the hooves did not come upon him. He heard the hooves thundering, though. In the distance. "Mulder?!" Scully was beside him. "Mulder, what happened?" "I...I don't know." "You were running and then you fell...come on, Mulder. Get up, I'm takng you inside." "Okay." They started walking towards the hotel. Scully helped Mulder walk. She opened the sliding glass door and helped her partner into the bed room. She put him to bed and covered him wih a blanket. Mulder experianced it all in a daze. A few minutes later, Mulder was asleep. Scully came out of the bathroom dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She went to the phone, about to call the FBI pyscologist when she heard Mulder's soft mumer's in his sleep. She turned to listen: "Who then can warm my soul? Who can quell my passion? Out of these dreams--a boat. I will sail home to you." End Well? Well? What didja think? Good? Creepy? Dumb? TELL ME!!!!