more Halloween fic!
Oct. 31st, 2006 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseFor ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zinjadu, who asked for X-Files, and got a little bit more because of the specific nature of her prompt. This is such a total piece of crack... but I couldn't resist. Assumes the background of Family Portrait, a prior piece of crack on which this is closely based.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this, Mulder.”
“Doing what? Investigating a case?”
“This isn’t a case, Mulder. This is... I don’t even know what this is. Other than a mistake.”
“What, you don’t call three beheaded tourists a reason for official investigation?”
“I call it reason for a local investigation. Or maybe a team experienced with serial killers. Not supernatural phenomena.”
Mulder grinned that ‘I’ve got you now’ grin that Scully had come to recognize - and often detest - over the years. “Yeah, sure, anywhere but here. But in this town?”
Scully sighed. “Mulder, they probably renamed the town for sheer tourist-attraction value. Just because the area happens to be named after the site of a fictional 18th century account...”
“Every legend has a core of truth to it, Scully. And this time it looks like the core of truth might be back from the dead once again.”
“You can’t honestly think...”
“I think decapitation is a pretty old-fashioned way to kill a person. Especially when it looks like it was done with a single, smooth strike of a very sharp blade that cauterized as it cut. Sounds pretty unusual to me. Even a little spooky.” He smirked. “And I think you’ve got an appointment with the local coroner’s office in ten minutes. I’ll be at the cemetary, poking around to see what I can find. I’ll meet you there.”
* * *
The cemetary looked just like any other old graveyard, at least to Scully. Even Mulder seemed a little disappointed, probably because he hadn’t yet been attacked by a horseman with a pumpkin instead of a head. He looked up eagerly when she called out to him from the gate. “So?”
“Cauterized decapitation, exactly like you said.”
“And the weapon?”
“That’s really not my area of expertise, Mulder--”
“But there’s someone there who’s looked at the cuts, isn’t there? And there’s no sign of hacking?”
“No repeat trauma, no. From what I’ve seen, it really does look like one smooth, relatively quick strike, as with a very sharp axe.”
“Or a sword.”
Scully buried her face in her gloves. This wasn’t happening. “Mulder...”
“Just hear me out, okay? Remember in July, that buddy of your mom’s and all his friends...”
“I remember you stalking my mother’s boyfriend’s friends, yes, Mulder. What about it.”
“The tall guy got in a fight with some other guy at the beach. The other guy had a sword.”
* * *
The phone rang so long that for a moment she didn’t think he’d answer. The machine picked up, and Maggie Scully braced herself for an awkward (and necessarily vague) message. “Hi, Joe, it’s me. I just wanted to--”
The phone picked up suddenly, and Joe answered in a rush. “Maggie! I didn’t expect to hear from you ‘til Thursday! Sorry about that, took me a little too long to get to the phone. How’s it going?”
Maggie could hear the smile in his voice even over the phone. And that made it even harder to tell him the news she’d called to relay. As if it wasn’t difficult enough to keep up a long-distance relationship at their age... “I just got off the phone with Dana. She was asking about your friends, especially Adam. They’re out in New York somewhere, and there’s been a trail of murders. People with their heads cut off, Joe - clean cuts that look cauterized.”
“Shit.” A pause. “‘Scuse my language,” he added.
In spite of it all, Maggie couldn’t help smiling. It was nice to know they were still early enough in the courtship that he cared about something like that, even under the circumstances. “It’s fine. I just thought... it couldn’t be him, could it? Or your other friend, Duncan?”
“Mac’s been here in Seacouver for the last two months. And Adam’s been traveling, but Amy’s with him - they haven’t been anywhere near New York. But that leaves any of a hundred other immortals that might be in the area, and from the looks of this it’s somebody out hunting.”
“Does that happen often?”
From the strained silence on the other end of the line, Maggie already knew the answer. But when Joe finally replied, a catch in his voice told her that this was personal experience, not just professional caution. “Yeah, Maggie. Not all the time, but... sometimes things get a little heated up with these guys. And sometimes mortals get caught up in it.”
Maggie pressed her lips together tightly. “Dana and Fox.”
“No. Nothing’s going to happen to them, Maggie. I’ve gotta make some calls - I’ll get back to you later.”
* * *
“New York? No, we’re in Boston right now.”
“You haven’t been upstate at all?”
“We were in Maine for a while--would you shut up, Adam?” Amy growled suddenly. “Sorry, Joe. No, we haven’t been... Damn it, Adam, would you just... You know, you have your own damned cellphone. Why don’t you just...” Long silence. “Fine. Here’s ‘Adam,’ Joe.”
Without the slightest preamble, Methos’ voice cut through the static on the line. “What’s going on in New York?”
“There’s been a bunch of beheadings. They sound like an immortal.” Joe hesitated for a moment, then pushed on, knowing that Methos wasn’t likely to give a damn about another immortal’s activities unless it could somehow be construed as threatening his own sorry hide. “And don’t give me that ‘none of my business’ crap, Methos - Maggie’s daughter and her partner are up there investigating. So you’d damned well better make it your business, if you know anything.”
“I wouldn’t say I know anything...”
Even over the phone, Joe could hear his daughter’s derisive snort. “Okay,” Methos admitted, “I’ve heard a few rumors. An old friend passed word to me that someone had been seen out there. Someone who shouldn’t be getting spotted anywhere anymore.”
“Who?”
“Kronos.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
* * *
Under the circumstances, Scully would have preferred to have been at home in her cozy apartment, passing out the supposed ‘fun’ size candy bars to her neighbors’ children and maybe watching The Exorcist or something on cable once it had gotten past the bedtime of pre-teen ghoulies. But no. Instead, she had to sit in a freezing cemetary with her crazy partner. Who hadn’t even had the grace to look embarassed when he popped open a monstrous economy-size bag of candy corn, intended no doubt to feed whole parties of screaming ten year-olds, and started munching.
The bag was half gone. It was nearly midnight. Still no sign of headless ghosts.
The bells in the churchyard began to clang softly. Another play to tourists, Scully figured, but this one could at least be useful. “If we haven’t seen anything by the twelfth strike, can we go back to the hotel?”
Mulder frowned and put a finger to his lips, but nodded. Good enough.
One. Two. Three.
Nothing. Mulder might fuss, but even he’d have to admit this was pointless.
Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Scully buried her hands deeper in her pockets, feeling around for the car keys with half-numbed gloved hands.
Nine. Ten. Ele--
Something was moving out in the bushes. A man, in a long coat... carrying a sword.
“Jackpot,” Mulder whispered, and crept forward into the shadows. Suddenly wary, Scully followed with a hand on her gun... purely for procedural reasons, of course.
By the time the last bell had finished they were watching a tall, ragged-haired man stalking through the cemetary, his sword shining in the light of a half-moon. “Mulder, we can’t just arrest him for walking in a cemetary at night. There’s no proof--”
“Back again, hmm? And determined to catch attention this time. How’d you do it, Kronos?”
Both agents snapped their heads up to examine the newcomer on the scene. There wasn’t much difference, really, when it came down to it. Tall, dark hair, long coat... and another sword. This one, however, was quite familiar to both Mulder and Scully.
“I told you, Scully, I--”
“Mr. Mulder. Dana. Please... be quiet.”
“Amy?”
“Please, just come away.” Joe’s daughter beckoned them back toward the main part of the cemetary. “M... Adam has things under control. I know it doesn’t seem that way, but... he’ll do what’s right this time.”
“What are you talking about? What’s--”
“I promise, I’ll explain later. But Joe promised your mother we’d get you both out of the way.”
In the moonlight, Mulder was practically glowing with barely-restrained excitement. “You’re all tied up in this, aren’t you? And you’ve got Mrs. Scully involved, too. What the hell is this, some kind of government--”
“Nothing like that. It goes deeper.” Amy shuffled her feet in the leaves, then stretched, clearly attempting to see what was going on back in the trees. She shook her head, then, and returned her attention to the agents. “Like I said, I’ll tell you everything later. Joe’s on his way out, with a friend who’ll help us if Adam... if anything goes wrong. But Adam and I were the only ones close enough to get here tonight. Your mom already knows, Dana - Joe’s told her everything. We didn’t want to tell you, because we knew it’d put you in a bad spot. You can’t tell the government. They’d all be killed, if you did.”
“Who’s they?” Scully finally put in, taking hold of the younger woman’s shoulders.
At that moment, lightning struck the grove. Given the clarity of the night, Scully and Mulder both gawked in shock... but Scully retained just enough awareness to realize that Amy didn’t seem the least surprised by this. She just bit her lip and fumbled in her purse for a minute, seeming to find something that satisfied her. “Wait, Dana. The next few seconds... if the wrong one comes out of those trees, we may have a serious problem on our hands.”
Scully glanced up at Mulder, then pulled her gun. He did the same, and if either of them saw a very small and definitely concealable weapon in Amy’s hands, they made no effort to dissuade her. Something in the air told them they might just want that extra bullet.
After a long moment, a tall, thin figure stepped out of the bushes, his jacket and sweater dusted with dirt and leaves. “It’s alright. It’s me.”
Amy let out a visible sigh of relief and scrambled forward. It looked for a moment as though she’d hug Adam, then she seemed to remember their audience and just brushed the leaves off him as they walked back to the clearing.
“We’re still going to want that explanation.”
“You’ll get it, as much as we can give.” Adam shook his head. “I still don’t understand how he came back... but he’s gone again, for what it’s worth.” There was a shadow in his eyes - a sort of sorrow, Scully thought, but one mingled with a certain determination and relief.
“Do you two have a hotel?” Amy asked. “We came here straight from the airport...”
“We’ve got a spot, and they looked like they had plenty of rooms,” Scully assured them.
“But we want answers now.”
Amy and Adam looked at each other, then back to Mulder. “Fine,” Adam agreed. “Tonight. Joe won’t be happy to miss it, but it might be easier with just the four of us. Let’s stop for food, first, though. Something greasy, disgusting and... open.”
“IHOP?”
“That’ll do. Coffee, bacon, pancakes, and secrets no mortal ears should hear. Sounds like the perfect end to Halloween.”
zinjadu, who asked for X-Files, and got a little bit more because of the specific nature of her prompt. This is such a total piece of crack... but I couldn't resist. Assumes the background of Family Portrait, a prior piece of crack on which this is closely based. “I can’t believe we’re doing this, Mulder.”
“Doing what? Investigating a case?”
“This isn’t a case, Mulder. This is... I don’t even know what this is. Other than a mistake.”
“What, you don’t call three beheaded tourists a reason for official investigation?”
“I call it reason for a local investigation. Or maybe a team experienced with serial killers. Not supernatural phenomena.”
Mulder grinned that ‘I’ve got you now’ grin that Scully had come to recognize - and often detest - over the years. “Yeah, sure, anywhere but here. But in this town?”
Scully sighed. “Mulder, they probably renamed the town for sheer tourist-attraction value. Just because the area happens to be named after the site of a fictional 18th century account...”
“Every legend has a core of truth to it, Scully. And this time it looks like the core of truth might be back from the dead once again.”
“You can’t honestly think...”
“I think decapitation is a pretty old-fashioned way to kill a person. Especially when it looks like it was done with a single, smooth strike of a very sharp blade that cauterized as it cut. Sounds pretty unusual to me. Even a little spooky.” He smirked. “And I think you’ve got an appointment with the local coroner’s office in ten minutes. I’ll be at the cemetary, poking around to see what I can find. I’ll meet you there.”
* * *
The cemetary looked just like any other old graveyard, at least to Scully. Even Mulder seemed a little disappointed, probably because he hadn’t yet been attacked by a horseman with a pumpkin instead of a head. He looked up eagerly when she called out to him from the gate. “So?”
“Cauterized decapitation, exactly like you said.”
“And the weapon?”
“That’s really not my area of expertise, Mulder--”
“But there’s someone there who’s looked at the cuts, isn’t there? And there’s no sign of hacking?”
“No repeat trauma, no. From what I’ve seen, it really does look like one smooth, relatively quick strike, as with a very sharp axe.”
“Or a sword.”
Scully buried her face in her gloves. This wasn’t happening. “Mulder...”
“Just hear me out, okay? Remember in July, that buddy of your mom’s and all his friends...”
“I remember you stalking my mother’s boyfriend’s friends, yes, Mulder. What about it.”
“The tall guy got in a fight with some other guy at the beach. The other guy had a sword.”
* * *
The phone rang so long that for a moment she didn’t think he’d answer. The machine picked up, and Maggie Scully braced herself for an awkward (and necessarily vague) message. “Hi, Joe, it’s me. I just wanted to--”
The phone picked up suddenly, and Joe answered in a rush. “Maggie! I didn’t expect to hear from you ‘til Thursday! Sorry about that, took me a little too long to get to the phone. How’s it going?”
Maggie could hear the smile in his voice even over the phone. And that made it even harder to tell him the news she’d called to relay. As if it wasn’t difficult enough to keep up a long-distance relationship at their age... “I just got off the phone with Dana. She was asking about your friends, especially Adam. They’re out in New York somewhere, and there’s been a trail of murders. People with their heads cut off, Joe - clean cuts that look cauterized.”
“Shit.” A pause. “‘Scuse my language,” he added.
In spite of it all, Maggie couldn’t help smiling. It was nice to know they were still early enough in the courtship that he cared about something like that, even under the circumstances. “It’s fine. I just thought... it couldn’t be him, could it? Or your other friend, Duncan?”
“Mac’s been here in Seacouver for the last two months. And Adam’s been traveling, but Amy’s with him - they haven’t been anywhere near New York. But that leaves any of a hundred other immortals that might be in the area, and from the looks of this it’s somebody out hunting.”
“Does that happen often?”
From the strained silence on the other end of the line, Maggie already knew the answer. But when Joe finally replied, a catch in his voice told her that this was personal experience, not just professional caution. “Yeah, Maggie. Not all the time, but... sometimes things get a little heated up with these guys. And sometimes mortals get caught up in it.”
Maggie pressed her lips together tightly. “Dana and Fox.”
“No. Nothing’s going to happen to them, Maggie. I’ve gotta make some calls - I’ll get back to you later.”
* * *
“New York? No, we’re in Boston right now.”
“You haven’t been upstate at all?”
“We were in Maine for a while--would you shut up, Adam?” Amy growled suddenly. “Sorry, Joe. No, we haven’t been... Damn it, Adam, would you just... You know, you have your own damned cellphone. Why don’t you just...” Long silence. “Fine. Here’s ‘Adam,’ Joe.”
Without the slightest preamble, Methos’ voice cut through the static on the line. “What’s going on in New York?”
“There’s been a bunch of beheadings. They sound like an immortal.” Joe hesitated for a moment, then pushed on, knowing that Methos wasn’t likely to give a damn about another immortal’s activities unless it could somehow be construed as threatening his own sorry hide. “And don’t give me that ‘none of my business’ crap, Methos - Maggie’s daughter and her partner are up there investigating. So you’d damned well better make it your business, if you know anything.”
“I wouldn’t say I know anything...”
Even over the phone, Joe could hear his daughter’s derisive snort. “Okay,” Methos admitted, “I’ve heard a few rumors. An old friend passed word to me that someone had been seen out there. Someone who shouldn’t be getting spotted anywhere anymore.”
“Who?”
“Kronos.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
* * *
Under the circumstances, Scully would have preferred to have been at home in her cozy apartment, passing out the supposed ‘fun’ size candy bars to her neighbors’ children and maybe watching The Exorcist or something on cable once it had gotten past the bedtime of pre-teen ghoulies. But no. Instead, she had to sit in a freezing cemetary with her crazy partner. Who hadn’t even had the grace to look embarassed when he popped open a monstrous economy-size bag of candy corn, intended no doubt to feed whole parties of screaming ten year-olds, and started munching.
The bag was half gone. It was nearly midnight. Still no sign of headless ghosts.
The bells in the churchyard began to clang softly. Another play to tourists, Scully figured, but this one could at least be useful. “If we haven’t seen anything by the twelfth strike, can we go back to the hotel?”
Mulder frowned and put a finger to his lips, but nodded. Good enough.
One. Two. Three.
Nothing. Mulder might fuss, but even he’d have to admit this was pointless.
Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Scully buried her hands deeper in her pockets, feeling around for the car keys with half-numbed gloved hands.
Nine. Ten. Ele--
Something was moving out in the bushes. A man, in a long coat... carrying a sword.
“Jackpot,” Mulder whispered, and crept forward into the shadows. Suddenly wary, Scully followed with a hand on her gun... purely for procedural reasons, of course.
By the time the last bell had finished they were watching a tall, ragged-haired man stalking through the cemetary, his sword shining in the light of a half-moon. “Mulder, we can’t just arrest him for walking in a cemetary at night. There’s no proof--”
“Back again, hmm? And determined to catch attention this time. How’d you do it, Kronos?”
Both agents snapped their heads up to examine the newcomer on the scene. There wasn’t much difference, really, when it came down to it. Tall, dark hair, long coat... and another sword. This one, however, was quite familiar to both Mulder and Scully.
“I told you, Scully, I--”
“Mr. Mulder. Dana. Please... be quiet.”
“Amy?”
“Please, just come away.” Joe’s daughter beckoned them back toward the main part of the cemetary. “M... Adam has things under control. I know it doesn’t seem that way, but... he’ll do what’s right this time.”
“What are you talking about? What’s--”
“I promise, I’ll explain later. But Joe promised your mother we’d get you both out of the way.”
In the moonlight, Mulder was practically glowing with barely-restrained excitement. “You’re all tied up in this, aren’t you? And you’ve got Mrs. Scully involved, too. What the hell is this, some kind of government--”
“Nothing like that. It goes deeper.” Amy shuffled her feet in the leaves, then stretched, clearly attempting to see what was going on back in the trees. She shook her head, then, and returned her attention to the agents. “Like I said, I’ll tell you everything later. Joe’s on his way out, with a friend who’ll help us if Adam... if anything goes wrong. But Adam and I were the only ones close enough to get here tonight. Your mom already knows, Dana - Joe’s told her everything. We didn’t want to tell you, because we knew it’d put you in a bad spot. You can’t tell the government. They’d all be killed, if you did.”
“Who’s they?” Scully finally put in, taking hold of the younger woman’s shoulders.
At that moment, lightning struck the grove. Given the clarity of the night, Scully and Mulder both gawked in shock... but Scully retained just enough awareness to realize that Amy didn’t seem the least surprised by this. She just bit her lip and fumbled in her purse for a minute, seeming to find something that satisfied her. “Wait, Dana. The next few seconds... if the wrong one comes out of those trees, we may have a serious problem on our hands.”
Scully glanced up at Mulder, then pulled her gun. He did the same, and if either of them saw a very small and definitely concealable weapon in Amy’s hands, they made no effort to dissuade her. Something in the air told them they might just want that extra bullet.
After a long moment, a tall, thin figure stepped out of the bushes, his jacket and sweater dusted with dirt and leaves. “It’s alright. It’s me.”
Amy let out a visible sigh of relief and scrambled forward. It looked for a moment as though she’d hug Adam, then she seemed to remember their audience and just brushed the leaves off him as they walked back to the clearing.
“We’re still going to want that explanation.”
“You’ll get it, as much as we can give.” Adam shook his head. “I still don’t understand how he came back... but he’s gone again, for what it’s worth.” There was a shadow in his eyes - a sort of sorrow, Scully thought, but one mingled with a certain determination and relief.
“Do you two have a hotel?” Amy asked. “We came here straight from the airport...”
“We’ve got a spot, and they looked like they had plenty of rooms,” Scully assured them.
“But we want answers now.”
Amy and Adam looked at each other, then back to Mulder. “Fine,” Adam agreed. “Tonight. Joe won’t be happy to miss it, but it might be easier with just the four of us. Let’s stop for food, first, though. Something greasy, disgusting and... open.”
“IHOP?”
“That’ll do. Coffee, bacon, pancakes, and secrets no mortal ears should hear. Sounds like the perfect end to Halloween.”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 03:38 am (UTC)Between handing out candy and watching the game, I have been tinkering with this SGA AU fic I started a couple of weeks ago. Just--don't tell
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 07:09 pm (UTC)Believe me, I know the feeling. I'm supposed to be starting NaNoWriMo today, but I still have three Halloween requests that need to be written. Ack!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 03:40 am (UTC)Awesome! Wonderful! Glorioius! Again with the win!
Really, I loved it. And the idea of Mulder stalking Joe. XD
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 07:11 pm (UTC)Yay, I'm glad you don't mind me re-visiting our crazy little crossover AU. The instant I saw the words "Headless Horseman" I just knew it had to be Kronos... and of course that would cue Mulder's paranoia about Joe all over again. He's so protective of Maggie, as an extension of Scully. XD
(Why do I not have any happy Scully icons? Alas... I must work on that.)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 07:43 pm (UTC)(Because Scully and happy rarely meet.)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 07:58 pm (UTC)(True. Too bad, that. Although I ought to be able to find *something* that I can make into at least a funny icon...)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 07:12 pm (UTC)