Dragon King's Daughter by Rocketman lebontrager@iname.com Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No fringe is intended. Some embellishment has been added for literary purposes to the Japanese myth of Benzai-ten. Notes: MSR(Eventually) X, A Summary: Mulder investigates some of his strange visions, keeping his search from Scully and discovering more than he can handle. Dedicated to Hong for his wonderful quote and his help in creating this. ~~~~~ Dragon King's Daughter ~~~~~ "Of course, there was no real dragon in the actual story." --Ngech Lack ~~~~~ The old, Japanese woman looked down at her great grandchildren, eyes crinkling with the sight of four eager faces starving for a story. She smiled and looked up at the man who had come to see her, smiled because today he would find his truth, even if he did not understand it. Her cracked lips parted and soft Japanese filled the ears of the two boys and two girls, letting their imaginations soar back into the ancient times. Then she took the man's hand, strength and possession in the grasp. "I will tell you what I have come to know." she said and he sank down beside her. His face was rapt as she began. "In Japan, the water is strength and it brings life and energy to man. In these many waters lie creatures that also derive life from their bountiful gifts. One of these monsters is the Dragon King, with his subjects, in the deepest parts of the ocean and in the underground channels that run to the lakes. " The woman's finger mapped out the kingdom with a shaking flourish. "It is in the lakes that they most like to live, and in one place particular: Lake Biwa, north of Kyoto. Now, the Dragon King has many wives, such is the nature of dragons, and one of his wives he loved the most and had a daughter by. This child, the Dragon King's daughter, was in human form and immortal, even rising to the position of goddess. This is how the ancient ones described her: part dragon and part goddess, in that her hair shone with the fire from the mouths of the creatures, her eyes were the dark, animal black of their orbs, and her skin always seemed to shimmer in the light, just as dragon scales blinded the man who did not shield his eyes. So was the Dragon King's daughter, and she had the name Benzai-ten because she had fallen in love with man and given him many great gifts." ~~~~~ (two months earlier) ~~~~~ "What's the age?" "12. I think age *was* a factor, Mulder. Just not really the main one." He glanced to her out of the corner of his eye. "Then what?" "Well . . . I'm not sure. There's something about all these victims that ties together for me. I just can't pinpoint it." Mulder gave a frustrated growl and let the folder drop back to his desk. It was annoying that she was the one getting gut feelings about their case while he had to sit in the dark and watch her try and figure it out. "Mulder . . ." She sounded weary. He shook his head. "No, no. Don't worry. I'm just tired. It's not you; I know you're trying." She glanced at him with surprise. So maybe he did understand her sometimes. "Go home, then, Mulder. We're getting nowhere. I won't understand this any better if we stay up here all night." She placed a tentative hand to his shoulder, then squeezed it softly. He took her hand and ran his thumb along her skin, then reluctantly let go. "Yeah, let's go." As he said the words, his vision shimmered again, just as it had been doing all week. The office seemed to shake, then teeter on its side as the earthquake in his eyes made things dizzy. He let out a moan as the motion made him seasick, and saw her face as he closed his eyes, clutching the desk as if for dear life. When he opened his eyes, it had not stopped, only this time, there was the dragon, standing in the corner, fire snorting out. He shivered and blinked and rubbed his eyes even as he felt Scully's hands on him, roaming his face in search of bumps or unseen medical things. "Mulder?" he heard. The dragon drew off its haunches and paced toward him; the heat of its breath singed his hair and made his face feel bleached dry. He pushed Scully behind him and she let out a startled cry. It broke the image and he found himself crouched behind the desk, Scully shoved roughly into his arms, her eyes watching him in fear. He blinked. "Dragon Scully." He mumbled a response to the questions in her eyes. He had to grudgingly give her credit; she turned in surprise to actually look. Then when she turned back, he wanted to melt into the floor. "How long had this been happening?" He shook his head. "I . . . This has been the worst. Usually it's just a glimpse I get. Then there's the dreams of it, and the ocassional time I see it looking straight at me." She ran her fingers through his hair, still on the floor, and brushed it out of his eyes. "Mulder, I want you to come home with me tonight." With a feeble grin he leered at her. "Mmm. Scully. Who knew my fear could turn you on?" She pulled him up off the floor, still deadly serious. "Mulder, this was a very bad episode here. I don't want you taking up your gun to defend yourself and accidentally shooting yourself." "So you can be there for me to shoot instead?" "Mulder." He sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." "Stop grumbling, Mulder. You know you love it." He glanced at her in surprise, thinking -how'd she know? But she was grinning, yanking on her summer coat and giving him his suit jacket. He smiled and followed her out. ~~~~~ ~~~~~ The old woman looked to the man with knowing eyes. "Then one day, the fear of man grew to untolerable limits, and they rose up and killed the Dragon King as his children watched. The brothers of Benzai-ten swore revenge from that day forward, and even now, they eat the children of man. But Benzai-ten, a goddess of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, could not bear the hatred between man and dragon. She dedicated her life to making amends for her brother's evil deeds. She is known as the man's goddess, for she intercedes on his behalf when the dragons come, and she has sympathy for lovers, doing small things to draw them closer." She took a breath and her eyes grew dark. "But the dragons will never forget the death of their King, and even the Dragon King's daughter cannot save you if they want you dead." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ (one months earlier) ~~~~~ "Mulder, are you feeling better?" she asked as she came into the living room. He had gone home with her that first night, and been free of dragon dreams, but as soon as he had gone to his own home the night after, he'd had the visions. Scully has insisted he stay with her, fearful he'd hurt himself, and while she was there, he had not had a single dream. So he'd been staying at her place for three weeks. It baffled him that she didn't even mind. "You're my good luck, Scully." She smiled at him and sat down on the couch as he moved over for her. "Not with this case, I'm not." "We're kind of stumped on this one huh?" She grimaced. "And it's an important case. There's got to be a reason why all these Japanese children in various parts of the country are turnign up dead!" He took the case file from her hands. "Well, I've been trying to do some background on Japanese culture online, but I'm getting nothing." She sighed. "I think it's time we went to New York City, where most of these deaths have occured." He nodded, smiled at her. "I knew you'd say that. So I already got us plane tickets. Our flight leaves in three hours." She stared at him for a long moment. "You've been busy. What time exactly did you get up this morning?" He gave her a sheepish look. "I kind of never fell asleep." "Mulder . . . I thought it was getting better." "It is. I just haven't really wanted to fall asleep." "Try to sleep on the plane all right? I'm going to need you alert." ~~~~~ "So, you think she could tell us something about these deaths?" The strong, solid Japanese man looked back at them with undisguised terror. It was a strange thing to see, such fear on such a strong seeming man. His dark eyes flickered. "She can tell you anything you need to know. You just might hav trouble catching up to her is all." "How do you mean?" "Well, she's gone on vacation right now. To one of her daughter's house. Then from there, she's going to visit her son and his children, and then from there she's going to visit her granchildren. Then after that she has three more stops along the way back." Mulder sighed and glanced out at the New York City street, the smell of dirty subway and an hour old lunch still rising from his clothes. Scully eyed the man before her, his T-shirt untucked but clean, his black Lee jeans crisp and new, and the lack of any kind of accent that told her his family had been in New York for generations. "Do you know when Ms. Mitanna will be back?" The man shook his head. "Not sure. A few weeks? Maybe even a month?" He looked regretfully at them and shrugged his shoulders. "The only reason I even know about her is that my wife keeps talking about taking our kids to her house, let her tell them stories about ancient Japan. I don't really care one way or the other, but my wife loves the woman and her myths." Mulder nodded with a less than interested look. Scully shook his hand. "Well, of you think of anything else, let us know. Here's our card." The man shot them a disgusted look. "I sure hope you catch this killer. It's awful that all these kids are getting killed." But his face still had that look: It can't happen to me. Mulder led Scully off the man's front stoop, then down to the sidewalk, still oddly silent. They stood out there in the sun, the rays of light catching in her hair and setting it on fire, by contrast making her eyes seem dark and deep. "Mulder?" He frowned as she seemed to shift, to shimmer like the visions of the dragon caused. Her shape altered subtly and her skin seemed to be like rainbowed scales of deep green and pink. Her body waxed between being the Scully he knew and an entirely different creature. His eyes closed then opened, his breath grew sharp. And then there was the dragon, tongue caressing her face and breath heating her cheeks. He grabbed Scully and yanked her to him. The world stopped shimmering. She remained solid. And frightened for him. "Mulder, are you okay? What's going on?" "The dragon again Scully. Only this time, you changed too." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ The old woman Mitanna looked to the man, nodding as if in agreement to his silent thoughts. "Benzai-ten's brothers grew angry that she helped man so, and they insisted that she marry a dragon to keep her under control. She refused, but the dragon that was to be her intended promised that he would never eat the children of man ever again and that he would convince the other as well. He did all this because he was secretly in love with her, and not really a bad dragon, just a little lost and confused, and in great pain because of the Dragon King's death. So Benzai-ten agreed and married the dragon. Love cured him of the desire to eat flesh, and reluctantly convinced the others to quit. But still they hounded man, and still they persued him." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ (three weeks earlier) ~~~~~ When Scully came into his room with all of her luggage and a determined look on her face, he grew frightened. "What happened?" he said. The last thing he knew, she had been going to the front desk to extend their motel reservation yet another week, still waiting for Mrs. Mitanna to make it back from her cross country trip. "I'm a sucker, I know." She sighed and dropped her suitcase and carryon to the extra bed in his room, then smiled at a family walking by with their own luggage outside. Mulder watched in astonishment as a little boy ran up to her with a huge grin, smiling through his now dry tears as he hugged her fiercely. He then ran back to his parents, waving. "Scully?" "I gave away my room," she blurt out. He wanted to laugh, but the look of utter horror on her face kept him from cracking even a smile. "What?" "I went down to the desk and that family, the Oshiro's, were there looking kind of angry. Well it turned out the manager gave out their rooms to us, thinking we'd only stay a few days, not weeks, and he begged me to share with you so that they'd have a place to stay. Well, I was going to say no, tell him it was his fault anyway, and that there were a hundred other motels in New York City, but then one of the little girls, Tomoko, started talking about this soccer tournament and how they'd come from Okinawa to see it, and that every motel in the city was either booked full or way too expensive . . . and I . . . the little boy started to cry, Mulder." He glanced to her with an unforgiving look. As if to say - so? "He was crying. Mulder, if you-" "No. It's okay, really. It's amusing, actually." She stiffened. "What?" "I mean, that a little crying and a pitiful look will make you melt." "It wasn't that really." "I was hoping not, because I've been trying that for years, and it never gets me anywhere." She rolled her eyes. Suddenly he was snapped back to the case, pulled away from the moment and into the narrow tunnel vision. "Today, I'm going to go back around, talk to the fathers of each victim here in New York. I hope you don't mind me going alone; I think they want to say something, but you know men - can't seem weak in front of women." "I don't mind. Whatever's necessary. I want to close this case." She suddenly glanced up in guilt. "I didn't mean it like that. I just want to find the killer. Make it stop." He looked at her with concern. She seemed odd today, almost more sensitive than before. "Are you okay, Scully?" She shuddered. "I think I have your dragons on the brain." He stopped dead still, his mind trying to grasp at a pattern but not finding it. "What do you mean?" he said, quiet and still. "I dreamed that I watched you kill a huge dragon. And . . . and the dragon called to me and it was my father's voice." Her face looked untroubled, but her eyes seethed with turmoil. She didn't want to know how his Freud centered mind would interpret such a dream. She was sure it didn't at all mean she blamed him for her father's death, because surely if she did even a little bit, she would have seen it by then. He reached out and took her hand. "Was it strange looking? Like it wasn't your dream, maybe, but another person's memories?" She seemed shocked that he would describe it so perfectly. "Yes. Yes. Like it wasn't me watching, and not my father, and not you, but yet it was all of that. I'd never before heard such a voice that was supposedly my father, and I'd never before seen such a man that was supposedly you-" She stopped midsentence and her eyes dilated. "The man that was you . . . he was Japanese." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Mitanna grabbed the woman's hand then, reaching out to touch her fire hair and dragon spirit. "The death of the Dragon King stayed with Benzai-ten and it haunted her for her life, always makinig her wonder if she did the right thing by staying friendly with her father's killers. Even as man killed her brothers, even as the enmity grew between them, she remained loyal to man, and to lovers, and to children. It is said that at the time of death for a little one has come, that when their tiny soul is ready to give up, the Dragon King's daughter reaches out to them and sustains them for the night, giving them an added strength to combat their illness. She is seen by the family as a shimmer of green and pink, and then nothing." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Glancing in awe to the bed, Mulder walked into their room quietly, setting down his jacket and tie with careful ease to keep her from waking. She lay curled on the extra bed, one arm tucked under her chin, the other snaked around pillow. Her face was calm and untouched, and he wanted to lean over and breathe in her serenity. He lowered his body to the floor beside her and laid his head close to hers, willing her to wake up and see him there, wanting to see her eyes as they opened and were unguarded with him. It took but a moment, and soon her eyes were peering into his, a sleepy indifference making them seem deep and dark. "What'd you find?" she whispered, her voice still low from sleep. He grinned in triumph. "Lots. How about you?" Her eyes drifted shut for one last moment of unreality, then she sat up, pushing her hair from her face. "Me too. I did some research of Japanese culture and how the dragon symbol tied in. It also . . . well, it might explain your dreams." "You not suggesting that these myths are to be believed, are you Scully?" She almost blushed. "No. Just that you probably have heard them before and they've been stuck in your subconscious." He shook his head and brushed a red hair from her lips. "Or maybe you want to believe. . ." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ "So," she said anxiously, cutting him off from finishing his sentence. "What is it you found?" His lips smirked quickly, seeing her discomfort, then he sat back on the bed, giving her the distance her eyes pleaded for. "You go first. I want your unbiased information to relate perfectly with my observations." She frowned at him and then settled back into the headboard, her posture arranged to show him that she was not afraid of him, even though, on some level, she was. "I went to the library and found some interesting sites online that helped me gather further research. I found a few legends that tie in to dragons and both are Japanese. It seems Chinese myths make dragons out to be more of a symbol and less of an actual figure in history." He studied her profile carefully, soaking in her words even as he analyzed her movement. Yes, it could be her. It could be the Dragon King's Daughter. "One of these Japanese myths is centered around the Dragon King-" "Wait! What?" His breath hitched as her information dovetailed so beautifully with his that he almost couldn't believe it. "The Dragon King. Let me finish. He was the god of the seas, the master of them really. Not a god they worshipped, but a creature they revered. The Dragon King kept the world of man and beast from colliding too often, yet man was deeply afraid of him, and killed him finally." Mulder waited, anxious for the rest of the story, hungering for the added detail that explained to him what she was, what their case was, and why the dreams, the dragon visions came to him. But she said nothing and simply looked to him to start his story. "That's it?" "Well, no. There's another funny thing I came across." "What's that?" His heart beat faster, mouth dried into socks. "The rice goddess, her name is Uka no _Mitanna_, as in the name of that old woman we're waiting for." Mulder's eyebrows pulled together. "I don't really see how-" "And, Mulder- the book said that she has divine messengers." He gave her a blank look. "Her divine messenger is the fox." ~~~~~ ~~~~~ The old woman glanced to the couple before her, the way their heads were bowed under the weight of their knowledge, the defeat in their eyes. She had taken the hope that had not always dared to flourish in them, and yet had for so long. She wished to give them something back. "Maybe it is not meant for the Dragon King's Daughter to ever be with man in the way she desires, but it does not stop the man from reaching for her with every part of his being. And maybe with the dragons at peace, maybe when the man truly realizes how great her good gifts are, then will he deserve the honor of being by her side." The faint glimmer of hope was back; her eyes were clouded and misting, almost as if a private fog covered her eyes, but at least they had the spark needed to burn away the damp. His posture was back, his shoulders more straight and he was looking at the old woman, the Uka no Mitanna whose messengers were foxes and whose stories kept the rice growing for another year. "Thank you," he whispered and took his partner's hand. The Dragon King's Daughter lifted her eyes and blessed mankind with her smile. Another one of the many gifts of good fortune the Daughter chose to bestow on the man she loved. ~~~~~ ~~~~~ He was smiling at her, shaking his head. "So now I'm a divine messenger, is that it?" She rolled her eyes and stretched her legs down the bed, managing to push him a bit. "No. I think it's amusing." "Obviously." "So what did you observe?" She heavily emphasized 'observe' to let him know he would pull nothing past her. "I went back and talked to all the men that had children killed. At first, nothing again. But then, about the fifth house, the guy acted guilty, like he'd done it. It made me press him harder and finally he started shaking. Shaking, Scully. It surprised me because he looked afraid. As if something was out to get his entire family. And then he told me." Mulder paused; she knew he enjoyed drawing out the hunt, making the closing kill last longer, savoring her darkness on the matter while he was enlightened. So she gave him the hunger in her eyes to feed from, and let him know that she wanted his knowledge, needed his observations. In a way, it reaffirmed that she needed him. "Told you what?" "That he'd seen the dragon the day of his son's murder." Instead of some mind blowing revelation, she had this. Leaning back, glancing at him with doubt, she shook her head. "Mulder-" "Scully. I went back, retraced my steps and asked specifically if the other men had seen the dragon. They all had. And finally, someone told me what that meant." He took a breath. "In Japanese culture, seeing a fiery dragon in a vision means the death of a child is to follow. All the men saw this: a dragon breathing fire and in the fire, a woman. She was protecting the child, and melting in the heat, but not burning, and not dying. Each man thought it meant they should make their children stay safely with their mother, the woman in the vision. But it didn't work and they died anyway." "So what does this mean? What's the dragon and what's the woman?" Mulder glanced to her again, the words of a man half afraid and half dead echoing through his mind. She could be it. She could be the Dragon King's Daughter. "Your Dragon King, Scully. He was murdered by man. Legend says that his sons take revenge by slaughtering the children of the men who killed their father. You will see a Son of the Dragon King a day before your child is killed. But then, then there's the Daughter." Scully's body shifted; she perched closer to the edge of the bed, like a child enthralled by a fairy tale bedtime story. "The Dragon King's Daughter. She is the woman protecting the children. She is said to be in love with man, tries to protect them, even entered into a pact with the dragons to keep them from eating children." "Eating? I thought they were murdered, not taken for lunch." Her words were harsh, but she could see the threatening release from reality in his eyes. "The Dragon King's Daughter married a dragon she did not love to obtain the promise that the dragons would no longer harm the children. She sacrficed her own love to protect the innocent." Scully's head shook. Somehow she knew she was losing him to the myths. "According to your theory, the children should be okay. What happened?" "Her dragon husband has finally died and the Sons are not bound by the promise any longer." "So why doesn't she just marry another stupid dragon?" She felt her own logic being swept away by his Japanese myths, his hypnotizing eyes, his heady storytelling. "She can't." Mulder's eyes swiveled to hers, taking in her fire hair, her dark, animal eyes, her shimmering before him like a vision, like a Dragon King's Daughter. "Why not?" she said, breathless, thinking her own fate hung in the balance, utterly dependent on the decision made by a mythical figure from Japanese culture. "Because she's in love with a man." ~~~~~ Her dreams were frightening: deep shadows without walls, dark passages without substance, merely water and scales. She fought for the surface, yearned for light and land, and found only the drowning sensation that she was stuck forever under water. She glanced down and found her body coated in dragon scales, her arms bound by the thick armor of myths, her hair flaming in front of her face. She choked on the horror of it, scrambled away from the claws that kept her down, kept her in the many waters, broke to the top, to where her body screamed was up. But there were scaly bodies surrounding her, pressing her down, berating her with huge dark eyes that begged for her to love them. But they were being wrong! couldn't they see that? They were hurting babies and she could have not part of it, no part of killing the children of men. Killing the innocent. Didn't they see she had to leave them, that she did not belong under the water? She felt arms, hands pulling her from deep darkness; a man's love drawing her from the prison of water. And her eyes opened and she was no longer simply a dragon, but the Dragon King's Daughter. "Mulder?" "We got a phone call, Scully." "Huh?" She struggled to orient herself, to block out the feel of royalty posessing her and the smell of water and seaweed. "The killer has turned himself in. Said his sister came to him in a dream and told him to confess." Her dream suddenly overpowered her in drenching waves. Dreams, sisters and brothers, and dragons. "Let's go." ~~~~~ The man had Oriental features, yet something hidden in them that made her think he was old, old, ancient. From ancient times. But young. With close cropped hair and a rigid body that spoke of effortless movement and quick strikes, quick kills. He admitted to the killings and Mulder questioned him, even asked if he'd seen dragons. No flicker, no reaction. Just a dull no. Too dull. Too much of nothing. He knew. She could tell he knew. Knew what he was. Mulder could guess it. The killer stared for a long moment at Scully, then bowed to her, answered her questions first, gave her respect, yet behind it there was some supressed rage. Some kind of inner anguish that ate at him. They got up to leave, to file the paperwork, make his arrest happen. Scully glanced once to him, looked into his eyes. And found the sea reflected back to her. Found her image in his eyes, rising from the sea, scales of shimmering rainbow, hair like the dragon's fire, eyes like a huge, intelligent beast's. And she knew. Son of the Dragon King. Brother to the Dragon King's Daughter. Her dream. His repentance. ~~~~~ She was not surprised when the police called anxiously, forming words before breath was there, speaking things she knew would happen. For the honor of his family, they said, for the honor of his sister. Death. He had committed suicide. The baby killer, the dragon, had died. Mulder seemed to know. "He left a note. He said his sister would know what it meant, but so far, we haven't been able to locate her," the man said, rushed. Mulder glanced up at her, the extension in his hand but his look focused on her tight face. "Tell me what it said." she whispered. *I am his sister.* "Simply this: They are not safe. You must protect the children of man." She shivered, found the image of the woman in her mind's eyes, the woman standing before the onslaught of fire, holding tightly to a child. She glanced to Mulder; she had no idea what to do. How to save the innocent? ~~~~~ ~~~~~ "Mulder, how am I supposed to stop this? There are more Brothers out there, more children on a death list . . . how can I even begin to know where to start?" "So, you believe this?" Her eyes slanted to him, her body trembled. "Maybe I do want to believe." Did she know what she was saying? Did she realize that those words made her slide right down into the deepest parts of him? "Are you willing to do this?" "If it saves innocent people, Mulder, then of course." "Even if it totally shifts the world as you know it-" "Mulder. Everything about my world is changed. Different. I like it that way." He sighed. "You dreamed of the dragon, you dreamed and he turned himself in. You managed to keep him from killing again. Right?" Her eyes shied away; his voice suddenly closed in on her. How could this be real? "Right?" he asked again, his hand coming to close around her wrist in a tight, hard grip. She breathed in. "Yes." He nodded, glad she had somewhere, somehow allowed herself to believe, if only to save others. "So you have to dream again. But a controlled dream. Where you go to the other dragons and stop them-" "Mulder . . . this is so crazy . . . so wrong and not at all sane!" she moaned. "This can't be true. It can't be something that happens. I'm not Japanese, my real father isn't the Dragon King, my brothers hate what I do sometimes, hate that I'm with you so much to the exclusion of my family, but they don't kill children or-" "Scully! Trust me for once. This is happening. This is real. Your parallels with the myth are too close, too much a reality for it to be some overactive imagination at work." "How did this happen? How did the dragons come to think *I* am their sister, their Dragon King's Daughter?" "Like I said, the parallels. I have cases that predate this set. An unexplained rash of deaths here, another there, all within about ten years. They stop and then start again. They've been waiting for someone to tell them to stop, tell them it's wrong. You're the person who can finally do that. If you believe you can, then they will too." She wanted to simply walk away, to leave the place with the suicide of the man in the jail cell, close the case and say good-bye. But there were innoncents to think of. Mankind . . . her love for a man to think of. "What do I have to do?" ~~~~~ She was hypnotized easier, faster, than he remembered possible. She wanted it this time, did not so much dread the loss of control. Before, it had been to find answers she had forgotten, now it was to fix something, to do something outside herself. And she trusted Mulder to keep her in control. To never reveal any of what she might accidentally say while hypnotized. Her hand was tightly clasped to his, a strong emotional link that kept her balanced. "Are you ready?" he said softly, his voice catering to the low notes, deep and soothing. She sighed, twisted her head, her eyes flickering but remaining closed. "Yes. Ready." "Okay. Dana I want you to know who you are right now. No matter what happens later, in the deeper stages, when you get to this point again, you will be Dana Scully." "Dana Scully," she repeated. "Dana Scully again. No matter what, despite what you might see, you are Dana." "Yes." "Say it for me." He could feel the pressure in her hand. "Dana . . . Dana Scully." "Right. Good. Now, Dana, go deeper into the water there. Deeper until your head is covered." She made a choking noise, gagged and twisted her head. "No water. No water." "You are Benzai-ten. The water is your home, the home of the Dragon King's Daughter." "No. No. It's too dark." "Who are you?" "Benzai-ten . . . I want to leave." "You have to do this. You have to make everything right again." She wriggled in the chair, her face scrunched in a kind of mental agony. He squeezed her hand tightly, bringing back her focus. "Yes. I have to do this." "Yes. You do. To save the innocents from your brothers." "Save man from dragon." He shivered. He had to make sure she was prepared. As Benzai-ten, he had to know she could do this. "Benzai-ten?" "Yes." "Why must you protect man from dragon?" "I love man. I love . . ." Mulder felt his hand tremble, reminded himself this was not Scully really, but the part of her that he had made herself believe was Benzai-ten. She yanked on his arm, softly, her head turned as if she was were speaking off to the side. "They don't like that you're here. They want you to leave. They don't like that I brought you down here." "No. No, don't let go!" he said, grabbing her arm even as she tried to twist away. "They don't like you down here. I can't do this if they're being agitated because they smell you in the water." She slipped her hand from his. Her body stiffened, her face grew sharp as she went further into the unreality that was reality now. He felt panic claw at him; letting go meant he had lost his link to her in the place she was. She would hear his voice, but it would be a call from far off. A call easy to forget and turn numb to. But her lips moved, her body shook. "This is wrong," he heard her say, felt her say. She gurgled, her back arched, her eyes rolled with a kind of pain he could not imagine. He reached for her hand, unsure how it could snap her mind, knowing only that she was in pain now. . . She suddenly went quiet and he yanked his hand away. Was she all right now? He glanced to her closely, felt time stop and spin wildly. Her eyebrows were singed. He shook, felt his heart stop, his breath explode out and not come back. She twisted, but not in pain. She turned, angling her face up, as if looking for the top, the way to get out of the water. "Benzai-ten, did you convince them?" "I . . . shhh. . . quiet. They do not like man. Please, please. . ." Her eyes face slid back to rest, her body flinched, her mouth moved. He had to wait. ~~~~~ It took an hour of panic, an hour of waiting, an hour of pure terror before she whispered - "Man?" "Sc- Benzai-ten?" he whispered. "It worked. I had to prove myself, my honor, but it worked." He felt his weights lift from his chest. "Oh . . . God thank you," he prayed, reaching for her hand again. She flinched away. "Don't come in the water. Don't." "Okay, okay. Follow my voice. Break the surface with your head, let yourself adjust slowly." "Wait, wait. Let me swim up there to you, let me get there." "Okay, okay. Swim. Just follow my voice, listen to it, let it take you back up, back to the outside." Her chest surged up as she broke the waters of her mind, a little gasp forming her lips. She sighed. "It tastes good. Air." "Yes, it does. . ." he whispered, breathing easier now that she was almost clear. She reached for his hand. Then she was jerked away. She thrashed, flailed wildly to find his grip. "No! No. Let me go. Let me go back up. Let me stay with him . . . Please!" He figured she was talking to the dragons. "You promised. . . promised. . . I wouldn't get hurt, no one would get hurt. Not him, please." Mulder felt his chest closing in, felt the strange sensation of water rushing into his lungs, of being choked. His vision darkened, he clawed at his throat, felt his body twist. "No, no, not him. Please. I love him. . please. . .no. You promised. Man! Take my hand. Take my hand and pull me up!" How could he take her hand and pull her up if he was being sucked under? Wait. Love him. She loved him. Who? Her or Benzai-ten? He felt water crash down on him. "Mulder, Mulder, please. Help me. Take my hand....." He struggled for air, for eyesight to find her hand. It was Scully calling for him, Scully who was afraid she was getting pulled into the water. He lunged, felt skin in his fingertips and hung on. She gasped, he sucked in air. Air. She was on land, floundering, gasping, coughing up muck and water, but not dead. His senses returned, the feeling of drowning abated. She was gasping on the bed, her hair sweaty, clothes damp, brow trickling with perspiration. He leaned down, kissed her forehead. "Come up, Scully. Come out of the water and past the shore to the place where you are you. Come back, Scully." She sighed, shivered. "Who are you?" he whispered, hoping the battle had not lost her for good. A long pause where she simply breathed. "Dana . . . Dana Scully." "Yes. Yes. Very good. Very good. Dana, when you've rested enough, when all the bad things don't feel so much in you, then you can wake up, okay?" "Okay. I can sleep now?" "Yes, Dana. Sleep." "You too, Mulder." He nodded and felt his eyes grow heavy, felt his body fall to hers. His last thoughts spiraled like whirlpools. Had she managed to hypnotize him, even as he hypnotized her? How else to explain the choking, the drowning, and her command to sleep? ~~~~~ She woke to feel him tangled in her, seeing the message light on the motel phone lit up. She reached over, feeling a heavy body roll with her as she picked up the receiver and dialed the front desk for her message. It was Mitanna. She was back and could speak with them. Scully closed her eyes, let the peacefulness of love drift through her, remembered the events that had happened inside her mind and yet in another plane all together. "Scully?" "I'm up," she murmured. "Good job," he whispered into her hair, his breath stealing across her skin like a dancer racing across stage. She sighed, felt secure and dry. "Thanks, but you pulled me up. You let me go when I needed you to, and pulled me up when I needed it." He ran a finger down the side of her neck, around the curve of her shoulder. "You did it for love. . . I did it for the same reasons." ~~~~~ end of all adios RM