From: "Emily Miller" Subject: Daemonium- The Possession By: Kinados Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 18:29:16 -0600 Send any feedback to fox_mulder1013@hotmail.com Put it at Gossamer. Anywhere else, ask first. DISCLAIMER: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully and Walter Skinner belong to Chris Carter. CLASSIFICATION: SRA KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully romance RATING: R (language and content) SPOILERS: Small Potatoes (very small) SUMMARY: NOTE: This story came to my slightly-sick mind after watching 'The Exorcist' (yes, because it's Scully's fave, or one of them) one too many times in the last month. If you don't like stories like that, you might want to skip this one. Daemonium- The Possession By: Kinados >>>>>>>> "Scully?" Fox Mulder gave up on her getting to the door and opened it, stepping into his apartment and calling her name. There was no answer save a crash from her bedroom and muffled cursing. He bit back a grin, remembering her saying something the day before about having a major 'clean up/ clean out' day. Obviously she stuck to things like that, unlike certain other people... namely himself. He went back to her bedroom. There was no sign of her... except a foot and the end of a blue-jeaned leg sticking out of the room's second closet, the one she used for storage space of all the old junk that she kept, well... in a closet. Anything he wasn't sure he wanted to keep or not went on the floor. Or in his bedroom. He hadn't seen his bed in what seemed like months. Although there had been that day Scully had stopped by and insisted he let her just 'tidy things up a little'. It had turned into MAJOR tidying, and his apartment had been clean for the first time in a long time. It hadn't lasted stayed that way for long. She was still mumbling about whatever had fallen when he entered her room. That, plus her bare foot that was stretched out in a perfect run-a-feather-over-it position was too much for him to resist. The grin he'd been holding back escaped as he got on his hands and knees and inched towards her, careful not to make a sound. She never saw it coming. A finger gently reached out and was touched to her foot. She squealed, jerked her leg back, and tried to get out of the closet at the same time. Boxes and various items fell on her. More cursing of all of it as she struggled to get out. When she finally managed, she slapped him on the arm hard enough to make him wince and rubbed the bump on her head. "Mul-der!" "What?" he asked innocently, ducking away from her next punch, which was this time aimed at his nose. She struggled to look angry when obvious amusement was breaking through. Finally, she just pulled her tousled hair from its ponytail and shook it out, pre-occupying herself while she tried to calm down and ignore the ache in her forehead from where a candle had hit her. "What're you doing here?" she asked eventually. He shrugged. "I remembered you saying something about cleaning up today, thought I might help." He hoped he didn't sound too eager, since he was lying his head off. If he had been a wooden boy, by that time his nose would have gotten past the three-foot mark. Not that it wouldn't have gotten there long ago, if it could. "Don't worry about it, I'm almost through anyway," she said, turning back to the closet- both were still on the carpet- and dragging out one of the boxes that had fallen on her. "I was just cleaning out some of Melissa's old stuff. Mom gave it to me after she died, thinking I might want it. But I really don't have any use for candles and books on 'becoming one with nature' or 'life after life' and ouija boards." He had been trying to hide his relief, grateful that she was turned away from him as she pulled out boxes, but looked up at her last statement. "Melissa has a ouija board?" "Two, actually," Scully said with a sigh. "One, according to her, was for calling the spirits of the dead, the other for earth spirits. They scared Mom, Bill refused to have them in his house, and Charles didn't want them around his kids. That's how I got them. How I got most of this stuff." "Wanna try one? See if it works?" She rolled her eyes. "Mulder, its a piece of cardboard with a little plastic thing that's supposed to receive messages from the dead. Even you can't believe that would work." "No, but it'd be fun to mess around. It's Saturday, Scully. Let's take ol' Eddie's advice and live a little." "You think playing a board game with your partner on Saturday morning is living?" "We could go home and watch my fish, instead. Jack's been starting a lot of fights lately. Those are kind of neat to watch, and you don't have to pay." "You have a fish named Jack?" He grinned. "Nope." After struggling with that for a moment, unable to figure out where he had gotten past her, she shook her head and said, "Okay, I'll play with the ouija board. But lunch first, okay?" "You're fixing?" "Mulder, you're not getting anywhere near my kitchen." "Fair enough. You get busy, I'll set up the board." Even her swipe at the side of his head wasn't enough to take the satisfied smirk off his face as she left the room. ***** Later, after lunch was eaten, Mulder made Scully keep her promise, half-forcing her back to her bedroom to play with a ouija board. Anybody else, she couldn't help thinking, would have been taken back to their bedroom by a partner like Fox Mulder for completely different reasons... why did I have to grow up Catholic? She smiled to herself, hiding it from Mulder as he explained to her how she was supposed to put her hand down for the right 'energies' to flow. "I know how to do it, Mulder," she said, moving the plastic planchette around the board with her hand. "Melissa showed me in about fifth grade. She wanted to contact Granddad after he died. When Mom found out, I really thought she was going to kill us." "Okay, then, let's get started. Who do we want to contact?" He put his hand over hers- there wasn't room for their hands to rest side by side, even just fingers, so his rested on top of hers. She didn't complain, so he guessed that was still 'legal.' She didn't say what immediately came to mind: Melissa, her father, even Emily. "I had a friend in high school who was killed in a car accident. Let's try her first," she said. "Sounds good. What was her name?" "Kathryn." She almost expected him to cross his legs and meditate on it before starting, he was concentrating so hard when he first started to speak. "Kathryn... Scu- Dana and her partner are here. We want to talk to you." "Think candles would help, Mulder?" she asked with a smirk as he paused for breath. "Maybe. You have any?" he asked, dead serious. "Just the one's that were Melissa's." "Go get them." "Mulder, I was kidding." "Get them, Scully." She sighed and rolled her eyes, but scooted backwards to the boxes that were still waiting for her to get rid of them and opened the smallest one, where she had put candles and books. She took out one of the purple ones that she remembered smelling the best and slid back to Mulder. "I'll get matches," he volunteered, standing up. She nodded, putting the candle down by the board. He was searching through drawers in her kitchen- that was where he kept HIS matches, and most everything else he could fit inside-, pretending he knew what he was doing, when he heard her gasp. It was loud enough that he could hear easily from where he stood. "Scully?" he called, making sure she was okay. There was no reply. He left the drawer he'd been digging through opened and flew back to her bedroom. She was still sitting on the floor, hair hanging down in her face as she stared at the board so he couldn't see her expression, but when he caught what she was looking at, he knew that it had to be a mixture of astonishment and horror. The planchette was moving. By itself. Going from letter to letter, spelling out a message that was a clear as if it had been appearing in blood on the carpet. DANA THIS IS MISSY DO NOT DO THIS TRUST ME DANA IT IS DANGEROUS DO NOT DO IT DANA DONT LISTEN TO ME DA- The planchette stopped on its way over to the D. Scully, realizing it wasn't going anywhere else, stood up and backed away- right into Mulder. She turned and wrapped her arms around him, crying into his sweater. "Oh, God, Mulder...Missy... oh, Missy..." He stroked her hair, rocked gently back and forth on his heels, just letting her get out all the pain she still felt over her sister. She had never cried over Melissa that he had seen, and he knew it must hurt her. Maybe even worse than Samantha's disappearance had hurt him. There was still that slim chance that he would see her again. Melissa was never coming back. "Mulder?" she asked, pulling away enough to look up at him and bringing up a hand to run it across her nose like a child would. He had seen her look like a child before, usually in moments like these- moments of such intense emotional pain that he wasn't sure either of them would make it through them. "What?" he asked, careful to keep his voice gentle and his hand on her shoulder. "What was that?" He closed his eyes and pulled her close again. "I don't know, Scully. I don't know." "Stay with me tonight," she whispered. There was no need for reply. ***** Her couch was shorter than his, but better for sleeping once he curled up a little. Mulder was sleeping better than he had in weeks when the screams started. At first, he assumed he'd been having another dream of Samantha. Sometimes when that happened and he woke, he could still hear the echoes of her fearful cries in his ears. But this time, when his eyes cleared and he remembered where he was, the screams were still full-force. Scully. He jumped from her couch, almost tripping and falling in his haste to get to her when his legs got tangled in the blanket she'd given him, but he manged to stay on his feet. "Scully!" he shouted, loudly enough that the others in the building now surely knew what was going on. Not that enough to make them think Scully and everyone she associated was nuts didn't go on anyway. "Scully!" Her screams had stopped, but he could hear hitching sobs. When he got to her room- after what seemed like hours- and turned on the light, she was clutching the edges of the bed, her arms barely able to reach from one side to the other, her eyes shut tightly and tears running down her cheeks. He was at her side in seconds, touching the side of her face, stroking the tears away gently. She must have had a nightmare, like the ones he had. After what had happened earlier, it was understandable. "Scully? Are you okay? What happened? Tell me what happened, Scully..." He took her hand from the one side of the bed and sat beside her. The hand he'd taken away immediately moved to clutch his arm. "Mulder... Mulder..." she moaned, unable to finish whatever she was trying to say, her breath catching after each soft call of his name. "What happened? What's wrong?" "It... it was shaking... and then... and then... oh, Mulder... it went in the air... in the air and it was still shaking and I thought I was dying... Mulder... what's going on, Mulder?..." He took her into his arms. She curled up there, so different from her usual cool, unemotional image, shaking against him like a child. "What was shaking, Scully?" he asked, gently putting a hand under her chin to lift it so her tear-filled eyes were looking into his intense, probing ones. "The bed," she said, and shuddered a little harder for a moment. "The bed was shaking?" "It shook and it... lifted off the floor." "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" She jerked away from him so fast he was scared for a minute she was going to go right off the other side of the bed. He reached out and grabbed her just in time. "I KNOW I wasn't dreaming!" she said, defensive, tears gone, the only traces that she had ever been crying the streaks on her face. "Just leave me alone!" She curled up in a ball on the edge of the bed, still trembling, but more out of anger at his possible skepticism than anything else. "Scully... I'm sorry. I believe you. I just wanted to make sure..." "Leave me alone," she said again, more quietly. He could tell she was struggling to keep her eyes open, exhausted after the ordeal even so soon afterwards. "Go back to sleep, Scully. I'll be in the other room if you need me, okay?" She ignored him, curled up tighter. But her eyes shut. He didn't leave her until her breathing got deeper- although not much deeper. And every so often she would cry out softly and fight something only she could see. Tears came to his eyes at the sight of her fighting the demons she refused to let him help her battle. He rubbed her hair absently as he was leaving. She slept the rest of the night. He stayed awake, listening... and thinking. ***** The next morning, she acted as if nothing had happened. She woke later than she usually did on Sunday morning and dressed. When she went into her living room, he was already awake, fiddling around with her computer. "Good morning, Mulder," she said. He whirled and almost fell out of her chair. "Scully!" "Hi," she said. "You're feeling better this morning?" A strange look crossed her face, as though she were struggling with a deep emotion. "Yeah," she finally said. "Much better." Her tone said she didn't want to talk about it. He took the hint. "You really should get more interesting wallpaper," he said, gesturing to the plain blue squares in front of him on her desktop. "I'm not sure our ideas of 'interesting' are the same, Mulder. Geometric shapes are, in my opinion, a lot more fun to look at than... silicon-based life forms." "Silicon-based life forms?" He gave her one of his leers, pretending as though he didn't know what she meant. "You know exactly what I mean, Mulder. Have you eaten yet?" He gave up. "Nope. But I better be going home, I'll get something at McDonald's or somewhere on the way." "Okay... talk to you Monday?" "Sure, call me if you need anything." He pushed away from the desk and got up, walking towards the door. He was in the midst of unlocking it when she called to him. "Mulder?" He turned again. She was looking at him with wide, worried eyes. "Can you promise me something?" "What?" He took a step towards her, but she stepped back, not wanting him too close for reasons only she knew. "If anything ever happened to me and I couldn't tell you I was still there, that I needed you with me... promise me you wouldn't leave me." "I'd never leave you without knowing you were fine." "Promise?" "I promise." He smiled at her before opening the door and escaping the apartment that suddenly felt stuffy and cramped. She smile back. ***** He arrived late the next morning. After a bad night- almost no sleep, when he had, he'd had nightmares of Scully in the place of Samantha-, he'd missed his alarm and hadn't gotten up until Skinner called to ask where he and Scully were. It wasn't until he got to the office that he fully realized what Skinner had been asking him: not only why wasn't he at the office, but why wasn't SCULLY at the office. She'd said she would call him if anything else happened. He still had no idea what had happened to her Saturday night. He wanted to think she'd been having a nightmare, but the look on her face, the terror, the way she had curled up in his arms, then locked herself into her own world when he doubted her... he didn't really believe it. Skinner was right, the office was empty. It even FELT empty without her, and he remembered for a brief, panic-stricken moment returning for the first time after... after Duane Barry had taken her to that mountain. It had seemed colder and more 'alien'- he hadn't intended the pun, but it fit- with her gone. He'd even missed her coming up with explanations for everything. What if something had happened? He pulled his phone out of his pocket instead of using the office phone, because her number was on his speed dial. The ONLY number on his speed dial. He punched the number and waited impatiently. It rang once, then again, and again... he was nearly to the point of hysteria. What if she had been in an accident on the way to work? Had something else happened last night? What if she had... what if she had killed herself? "Yeah," her voice said into the phone. He jumped, surprised. He'd been ready to hang up and flap his arms and fly over there. "Scully, its me. Where are you?" "Home." "Are you sick?" again, he prepared to race to her apartment. "No. I just want to stay home today, all right?" "Is anything wrong?" "No, dammit! Why can't you ever just leave me alone for a whole day!?" she was screaming at him. She almost never lost her temper around him, and when she did, it had only once ever been AT him. But now she'd done it twice in just 2 days. SOMETHING was wrong, whether she wanted to tell him or not. "I'm coming over there, Scully." She hung up on him, and he was gone. Out of the office, not bothering to lock the door, running down the hall... hours and miles later, or what seemed the equivalent, he got to Skinner's office. He didn't take the time to knock or say anything to his secretary before going on. "Sir," he said breathlessly, thanking God in his mind that Skinner wasn't having a meeting at the time. "I think something may be wrong with Agent Scully. Could I possibly take the morning off to check on her?" "What might be wrong, Agent Mulder?" Skinner asked, barely glancing up from whatever he was working on, used to the lack of explanation from Mulder and not really expecting any more this time. "I'm not sure. She was acting strangely all weekend." "Be back after lunch." ***** Scully's mind kept drifting back to Saturday night, after Mulder had gone to sleep. She shuddered, pulling her legs underneath her in the chair and wrapping the blanket more tightly around her shoulder. She suddenly felt as though the room was crowded. She couldn't breathe... Mulder had fallen asleep fairly quickly on her couch, but she hadn't been able to. After she was sure he was out for the night, she had gotten up and gone back to the closet, where they'd quickly shoved the ouija board after... what had happened, got it out, set it up on the floor. The planchette seemed colder at night. In the closet light, the only light she'd dared to turn on, it almost seemed to glow. She put her fingertips on it. "Missy?" she whispered. No answer. "Missy, it's me, Dana. You talked to me earlier. Please come back." Still nothing. Angry, she shoved the planchette away. It slid across the board... and stopped on a letter. It was moving again. Her breath caught as she watched. HELLO WHAT IS IT DANA I CANNOT TELL YOU MY NAME IT MIGHT FRIGHTEN YOU "I doubt that," she said, feeling slightly stupid now. She was talking to a piece of cardboard. The only thing that frightened her was the thought of Mulder waking and finding her. If that happened, he would never let her forget that she had been experimenting with the 'paranormal.' YOU MIGHT NOT BELIEVE ME "Probably not. I'm not even sure I'm seeing this." As long as it was happening, she might as well agree with whatever it was. I WILL TELL YOU IF YOU AGREE TO SOMETHING FIRST "What?" she asked around a yawn. THAT I CAN DO WHAT I NEED TO AFTER I TELL YOU WHAT I AM "And what would that be?" NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW RIGHT NOW DO YOU AGREE "Yeah, I guess." I AM There was a moment of hesitation, as though whatever it was was trying to decide what it wanted to say to her. I AM SATAN She laughed aloud, unable to help it. "Yeah, right," she muttered. "I'm going back to bed." But the planchette had one more thing to say. MAYBE NOT SATAN BUT I KNOW ABOUT YOU AND YOU ALREADY AGREED She felt a shiver go up her spine at that, especially the 'I know about you' part. She tried to hide herself from others whenever possible until she was sure she trusted them. Now, she was either dreaming or hallucinating that someone who claimed to be the devil knew about her. But she ignored the feeling, folded the board and put it up. Then she went back to bed, this time able to fall asleep. For a little while. Then she shaking started. Then IT started. A tear slid down her cheek, her head fell forward, her hands went up to cover her face. She felt so helpless, like she was caught in a net that the more she struggled against the more it twisted around her. "Scully?" Mulder was here again. She'd told him she wanted to be left alone. Couldn't he ever just LISTEN!? She felt rage build up inside, overcome the fear. Anger like none she had ever felt. She couldn't control it. She wanted to pull out her gun and shoot him, or, even more, to resort to the more primal use to nails and teeth. To attack him and injure him. She stood, eyes blazing with the anger. "Mulder," she said. He saw the look on her face. Something was wrong, very wrong. She stepped towards him. ***** End of Part 1 See part 1 Daemonium- The Awareness By: Kinados ***** "Scully... what's wrong?" he'd never seen that look in her eyes before. They weren't the normal cool blue or sharp hazel he was used to seeing. They almost seemed red, full of anger. "I told you I wanted to be left alone," she said, her voice calm but so loud in his ears that he could have sworn she was screaming at him. "I didn't know if you were all right... you usually don't miss work unless there's something really wrong..." she was still coming towards him, reaching to the side for the gun she'd left on one of the tables in her living room. He, fortunately for them both, saw her reach and was able to jerk forward and grab it before she did. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "What are you doing?" the voice was no longer hers. It was a deep, raspy voice, one that hurt his ears- and his heart. What was wrong with her? Why was she... HOW was she doing this? He didn't think she would be capable of doing that to her voice, to her eyes. Even her face had changed, twisted with the rage inside her. He reached out and grabbed her arm, intending to take her back to her room and make sure she stayed there while he called Skinner, her mother, and a hospital. "Making sure you're not sick," he said. She pulled away from him with enough strength to send him to the floor. Breathe knocked completely out of him, he gasped for a moment as she grinned evilly. "Scully...?" he asked incredulously as the grin stretched so wide that her dry lips cracked and began to bleed. As he watched, her tongue emerged from her mouth and licked the blood away. She closed her eyes at the taste, turning her head towards the ceiling. He swallowed hard to keep from losing everything he'd eaten for the past day as she bit her lower lip hard, to draw more blood. What was going on? "Hmmm, pretty good. I think I know what might be better..." she crouched on the floor beside him and reached out, scratching the side of his face, then leaning over and licking the blood away, growling her satisfaction. When she pulled away for a moment he could see her hand massaging hard... between her legs. He squeezed his eyes shut as she again leaned over and licked his face, dreading what he knew he had to do. He took the gun he still held in a shaking hand and pulled it back as far as he could. He aimed for her arm as well as he was able and pulled the trigger. With a scream of pain and surprise, and she fell backwards. A hand went to the wound, clawing at it as though it would heal. He got to his feet and stood over the thing that had been Scully, the Scully he had loved more than anyone else in the world. And, as she began to lose consciousness, something changed in the eyes. They became turquoise in color, so beautiful it made him want to cry. Her mouth, still bleeding, opened and a voice spoke to him. "Fox, this is Melissa Scully. I'm doing my best to keep her safe and alive. But she needs You with her. Don't leave her, Fox. Keep your promise." Her eyes fluttered to a close; her hand fell from the ragged hole the bullet had made. Fox Mulder gathered his partner, both still oozing blood from various wounds, into his arms and held her close as he cried with the shared pain of both himself and the one who was prisoner in her own body. ***** "You want to tell me what's so wrong that you had to put her almost kill her?" Mulder reeled, already almost in shock from what had happened almost 5 hours ago, from the accusing voice. He wanted to curl up in the hard plastic chair and block out the whole world, like he'd done at 12. But he wasn't a kid anymore. "She was killing herself," he said. Bill Scully, Jr. narrowed his eyes. "She was trying to commit suicide?" "No." The hospital was always to cold... when would he be able to take Scully back home? She was probably as scared as he was, if not more, when she realized what she had done. She was back to normal now, had to be. "She was... she was..." "Bill... Fox... she's awake," Margaret Scully stuck her head out of Scully's room to tell them, breaking up the fight that possibly would have gotten them both in the same position as Scully. Bill strode towards the room, ignoring Mulder now as he got to his feet and struggled to walk. He felt as though he were drunk, unable to walk in a straight line. Scully was awake. She had to be okay if she was awake. Her room was a little warmer, but still he shivered- when he saw her. She was huddled on the bed, lips scabbed, a thick bandage on her arm. She had her eyes open but was staring at the ceiling, ignoring her mother's questions. Every so often her mouth would move as if she was talking silently to someone only she could see. "Scully?" Mulder asked softly as Mrs. Scully gave it up for a moment. Scully's head turned towards him, surprising her mother and brother who were unable to get a response. "You did this," she hissed, her voice taking on the same deep, raspy quality it had before. "You did this to me!" "Dana...?" Bill said, reaching out to touch her arm. She growled and jerked away, her body beginning to writhe on the bed. As Mulder, Mrs. Scully, and Bill watched in horror, it twisted so that her legs were touching the back of her head. She, Scully, screamed as whatever was doing this to her forced her to stretch her stomach and chest forward as far as it would go. Finally, the clothes she still wore, minus a sleeve they'd cut off to get to the bullet wound, ripped and exposed to expose her breasts. Mrs. Scully closed her eyes and looked up as if praying, Bill turned away. Only Mulder forced himself to keep watching, wanting a way to help her as she continued to cry out in a pain. Still, she was given no relief. "Scully... Dana, it's Mulder. I know you're still there, I hear you!" Mulder was able to say, reaching out and trying to pull her body out of the horrible position. But it wouldn't go; it was like trying to bend steel. "You have to stop. You're still in control of your own body, Dana!" Although still in pain- that was obvious from the grimace on her face- her eyes turned to look at him. "Mulder..." her voice- SCULLY'S voice!- came from the scabbed mouth, desperate, pleading with him to help her. Then it was gone, the hate returned. "Want to suck on something?" the raspy voice asked, straining her naked breasts forward even more, up towards Mulder. "Leave her alone." "Oh, she WANTS you to. She wants you to suck so hard she bleeds and then to lick the blood from your lips!" "Oh, God..." Mrs. Scully, helped by Bill's hand on her shoulder, left the room. And Mulder was alone with the monster that had been his partner. "You're worried about her. Don't you want her to be happy? It would make her happy," the thing said. "I want you to leave her alone." "She agreed to this, she did, she wanted me to take away all her pain and suffering. She thought I would really love her, care for her, the bitch!" It started to laugh, loudly and cruelly, so horrific that Mulder wanted to cover his ears and run from the room. But he didn't. Instead, he moved closer to her and spoke softly. "Dana, if you can hear me, I'm still here. I won't leave you until I know you're okay. I made a promise to you and I'm going to stick to that. You don't need to be scared. I'll make it okay. I'll find a way to get you back. We're going to fight whatever this is Dana, and we're going to fight it together. I swear, if it kills me, I'll heal you. I love you so much, Dana." "Excuse me." A doctor had come into the room, alerted by the look on the mother of the patient and the sounds of laughter coming from her room. He thought she was a psycho. But this man- her husband?- clearly thought it was something else, and after 10 years as a doctor he knew better than to argue with family members. But that didn't mean he wouldn't sedate her when he needed to. "I have to ask you to leave." "No..." Mulder said. "No, I promised I wouldn't. I made a promise to her... a promise..." another doctor was there, gently taking his arm and leading him away. He didn't fight it. He didn't have the strength. ***** Mulder took Scully home less than a week later. He knew that the doctors thought she'd just gone over the edge, but he knew better- he'd seen her come out for a moment, seen the look in her eyes and the begging in her voice. And he'd heard Melissa speak to him. Not Scully's voice claiming to be her sister, but really MELISSA. He took her to her apartment, but stayed with her. She slept most of the time, drugged to unconsciousness. When she was awake, she yelled obscenities at him and twisted her body in positions that were worse than any in his videos, claiming that these were the kinds of dreams she had of him- only in those dreams, "you fuck her for all she's worth. Which isn't much, the bitch!" Whatever it was inside her never called her anything else- it was either 'her' or 'the bitch.' Mulder hated to hear it, but wouldn't let the thing have the satisfaction of knowing he did. On the night she got home, he watched her sleep, sitting on a chair he'd pulled over beside her bed. The doctors had recommended she be strapped down, and, even with Bill's protests, Mulder had listened to them. He didn't want her to hurt herself any more than she already was. Her face and most of her body was covered in cuts and half-healed scratches, some she had inflicted on herself, others that had just appeared. She refused to eat and was rapidly losing weight- already, her ribs were much more prominent than they'd been before. Her eyes sank into her face, tinged with red and always open, staring, even when she was asleep. It was creepy, the way she would be sleeping almost normally... except her eyes were open. The straps that held her down to the bed had worn at the skin on her wrists and ankles as she fought to get away from them. Thankfully, she had been unable to, but there were still bloodstains on the bed around the area where she'd rubbed the skin off completely and they had bled. She looked almost like the Scully he remembered as she slept, if he erased all the injuries in his mind- the bullet wound, the cuts, the raw skin at her hands and feet. He willed her to wake up and be normal again. She would heal completely in time, be his Scully again. This time, he would tell her how he felt before a crisis came up. He'd said he loved her that first day in the hospital. But he seriously doubted she'd heard. Or, if she had, that she had thought that it might be the truth; he wasn't just saying it to try and bring her back to him. This was worse than when she'd first come back after those long months, worse than the cancer. She wasn't dying now. There was going to be no eventual escape. What if the doctors were right, she had gone crazy? Enough had certainly happened to her. The ouija board. That could have done it. He, almost without thinking, went to the closet and got it out. Maybe the key to bringing her back was there. The planchette was underneath the board, but he distinctly- although he had no idea why he would remember this- remembered putting it underneath. Had she gotten it out again? He sat cross-legged on the floor and put the board in front of him, the planchette on top. He didn't even bother to put his fingers on it. When it had moved, no one had been touching it. "Dana... it's Mulder. I need you to talk to me. And since it doesn't look like you're body is going to let you, use your mind," he said. The planchette shook for a moment before moving. FOX IT IS MELISSA AGAIN DANA CANNOT TALK THIS WAY BUT SHE SAYS TO TELL YOU SHE IS OKAY FOR NOW "What's going to happen to her?" he asked. "What's already happening to her?" SHE WAS TRICKED YOU CAN HELP HER FOX JUST LISTEN TO ME PLEASE I CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP "What do I need to do?" NOTHING RIGHT NOW SHE IS NOT WEAK ENOUGH FOR YOU TO HELP HER CAST THE THE DEMON OUT "A demon?" SHES POSSESSED BY A DEMON YES "Why do we have to wait until she's weak? Won't it be harder?" AS SHE GETS WEAK, THE DEMONS HOLD GETS WEAKER WHEN ITS WEAK ENOUGH YOU CAN CAST IT OUT BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE WILLING TO LISTEN TO ME "How long until we can do it? I'm not sure your mother's going to be able to stand this much longer. She's coming over later to see Dana. But she's scared of her." SHE SHOULD BE THE DEMON IS VERY DANGEROUS IT WANTS YOU TO THINK ITS THE DEVIL BUT ITS NOT LOOK I CANNOT TALK ANYMORE I HAVE TO MAKE SURE DANAS STILL OKAY "You talk to her?" I INHABIT HER BODY ALONG WITH HER SOUL WE WERE CLOSE ENOUGH IN LIFE TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE WITHOUT MY BEING CAST OUT RIGHT NOW SHE IS THINKING OF GIVING UP SHE WANTS TO JOIN ME "Tell her she can't do that, I need her." ONLY YOU CAN TELL HER THAT The planchette stopped and moved no more. Eventually, Mulder gave up on it and put it back in the box, along with the board, then walked back to the bed. Scully was still asleep. "Scully," he said, then took a deep breath and a moment of hesitation. "Dana, it's Mulder again. Your sister says you can hear me. If you can, I want you to listen. Don't die yet. This thing won't stay forever. I'll help you get it out, Melissa will, too. You don't have to do this alone, Dana. You don't have to do anything alone ever again. I'll be right there whenver you need me. I swear." ***** It was dark, so cold she could barely move. Something was wrong; someone was invading the only space that was truly hers. She could see Mulder standing above her, just like before. He was talking, but his voice was muffled and hard to understand. "Dana... Mulder again. Don't... yet. This thing won't stay... I... help you get... out, Melissa... too. You don't have to do this... Dana. You don't have to do anything... one ever again. I'll be right... whenever you ..... me. I swear." She tightened her grip on Melissa's hand, confused. What was Mulder talking about? Was he talking about... he must be. The man- if he really was a man- who was holding her prisoner in her own body. Trapping her so that she only had Melissa to convince her that she wasn't dead. She'd tried to get out once. But he had jerked her back, continued to taunt Mulder with what he claimed were her thoughts. "Missy, I'm scared," she said, reverting without thinking about it to the child who was afraid of the dark. Only her older sister could convince her that there was nothing wrong- whether through embarrassment or moral support, it didn't matter. The results were always the same. "I know you are," Melissa said. She had explained to Scully what was happening- how she had been with her since her death, a spirit to try and guide her, how she'd been tricked by a 'demon', and now the demon was in control. Melissa hadn't mentioned the whole truth, choosing only to tell Scully the 'better' news- it definitely wasn't good news- and leaving out the worst part. The demon was trying to kill her. Refusing to let her eat, scratching at the gunshot wound Mulder had given her to save their lives to make it bleed again until Mulder found out about that and tied her, or her body, down on the bed. Once, it had closed up her lungs so she couldn't breathe. But she'd still been in the hospital then and a nurse had realized what was happening soon enough to save her life. "How much longer do I have to stay here?" she asked. "Not much longer. It can't hold out too much longer. No food for a week... it can't last much longer." "Are you sure." "Yeah, I'm sure." Another lie. see part 1 Daemonium- Final Conflict By: Kinados >>>>>>>> Things got increasingly worse. Twice, the demon managed to escape from the straps and had attacked Mulder while he was asleep. Both times, he had been lucky enough to be able to contain it before it killed him. Melissa had gotten in contact with him once more, telling him that he would know when the time had come for the final battle to try and cast out the demon. He wasn't so sure, for once playing the part of skeptic. But he kept the thought to himself, in case the thing in Scully would use weaknesses such as this one against him. The final battle came at night, almost a week and a half after the initial attack, when she'd been shot. The would was finally healing now that the demon no longer used it to try and kill Scully. It used more painful methods. Bending her body backwards until Mulder could almost hear the bones straining and trying to hold together. Wriggling once the clothing ripped so that it could bend forward now and bite at the skin of her breasts and stomach until she bled. Anything to make her, still able to feel it all inside, want to scream in pain. But not allowing her the slightest sound. She was trapped inside herself, forever, the way it looked now. Mulder couldn't sleep, turning restlessly on the couch and trying to ignore the cries of the demon. Most nights in a quiet from the drugs, the doctor had recommended they not give them to Scully that night to see if anything would change. "The bitch wants you to fuck her, Foxy! She wants you to lick her, to do to her what you do to all the other women at the FBI, to the women you work with! She knows about it all as well as you do and so do I! And I know she wants it!" He buried his head into the pillow he'd brought from his apartment, tried to come up with anything to preoccupy his mind and take it off the screams from the bedroom. They went on and on, until he couldn't stand it. He slammed his fists onto the couch before standing and marching purposefully to the room where they were doing their best to keep the monster in Scully contained. In the doorway he stopped, aghast. The sight before him was worse than any of the other days of terror combined. Scully was twisted so far back that her feet touched her head- but her head was twisted so they were against her chin, almost completely around. She silenced almost immediately and her tongue slowly snaked from her mouth, impossibly long. It ran over her lips, still scabbed, all the way up to the undersides of her eyes, which were shrunken in and ringed with black circles of fatigue. "So you're finally giving in, eh, Foxy?" it asked, pushing her tongue towards him and wiggling it. "I know some places the bitch is longing to put her mouth, if you'll kindly take off your clothing." He saw then for the first time that she was completely naked, the pajamas she'd been wearing in shreds around her. Her body was so thin it made him wince to look at it. She'd eaten nothing in so long, drinking only when a tube was forced down her throat by a doctor. The same doctor had said something about an I.V. later on during the week. But now Mulder knew it wouldn't be necessary. The time of the final battle had come. Melissa- and maybe Scully as well- would help as much as she could. But most of it would be on him. If Scully was going to survive, he was going to have to cast the demon out. "Maybe she does, but I think I'll pass for tonight," he said. Dry lips twisted into a grin that was almost a grimace. "Your loss. She'll go on to the good stuff." "None of it, thanks." "I suppose you've been listening to that pathetic thing that is trying to pose as the bitch's sibling. She's really just another spirit, like myself, trying to be something bigger and better. She thinks that if she helps you get rid of me, she can take over. You do know that, don't you?" Inside his mind, Mulder panicked. What if that was true? It wasn't really Melissa, but another demon who would do the same to Scully once the current one was gone? Scully wouldn't be able to get through much more, he knew that. He stopped himself quickly. He had to trust somebody, and with Scully gone and Melissa his only hope, she had to be it. "No," he said. "I know the truth. You can't trick me." Another grin. "Maybe I can't convince you of the truth, but I know who can..." Scully's face changed again, into one of a child who was being yelled at by a parent or teacher. "Fox." the voice came from the throat of his partner, but it wasn't hers. Samantha. "I'm one of them now, Fox. Why don't you let me take over? Then we could be together again. 'Kay? Would that be okay?" "I know you're not Samantha," Mulder said, keeping the tremble out of his voice with all of his remaining strength. "Am too! I am too Samantha!" It was getting harder to doubt- she did sound just like his sister had. But there was something different. Samantha wouldn't have wanted them to be together. They'd fought 24 hours a day. If it was really Samantha, she probably would just continue whatever fight they'd been having the night she'd disappeared. He had to make sure. "What's my favorite kind of movie?" he asked. "Porn!" 'Samantha' shouted with a giggle, just like a child would be when discussing anything sexual. "No," Mulder said. "Science fiction. It was when I was a kid, and it is now." The look left Scully's face, was replaced by the normal hatred. "You can try all you like. I'm not going anywhere, not until the bitch dies! You know she can't take much more, as well as I do." He knew it was the truth. She was so close to death he could smell it. If things went wrong tonight, she might not live through another day. He had one chance and one chance only to save her. Against his better judgement, he went to the bed and crouched down so that he was face to face with her. He cupped her face in his hands and spoke softly, grateful that for once the demon was quiet and let him talk. "Dana, it's Mulder again. If you're listening, don't give up yet. Don't die. We'll keep fighting, both of us, okay? As long as we need to, we'll keep fighting this thing until we kill it." "....Fox... Fox... it's... Melissa. I don't have... have much time, the demon... it's gotten too strong... but it is weakening... get... go to Dana's closet, the same one where she kept my things... get out the Bible... she keeps it hidden, I'm not sure... not sure where... pray over her... the demon can't fight much... much longer... we can beat it Fox... we can..." Before she was even finished speaking, Mulder was on his feet and in Scully's closet, digging through the carefully stacked boxes. He finally found her Bible at the very bottom of a box, grabbed it and flew back to the bed. The demon was still torturing her, bending her in strange positions. Some kind of green foam came from her cracked lips, her eyes rolled madly. The thing did a gurgle-laugh as he struggled with the heavy book, flipping through the pages and trying to find something that was appropriate. He couldn't remember the last time he'd done anything with one. "What do I read?" he finally asked in despair to Melissa, looking at Scully while balancing the book on his arm. But it wasn't Melissa who answered. For just a moment, the evil was gone and the face that was now the most beautiful thing he could hope to see appeared. "Mulder! Mulder, it's Scully," her voice was so weak, so faint. Tears came to her eyes as she struggled to speak loudly enough to be heard. "Make it go away, Mulder. I'm so scared..." "I know you are, Dana. But don't be." He felt new determination come even as he spoke. "I'm right here, it's all going to be okay." "I'm dying... I know I am. It's okay. Just be here beside me, Mulder. It's too late..." she licked her lips and tried again. "It's too late to help me. Please. Just let me go. Be by my side until I'm gone. Hold my hand." "No," he said, grabbing her arm with a free hand. "No! No, Dana, don't give up. Melissa told me what to do, it's going to end." "End? It's going to end? You really know how to make it go away?" Her voice was getting even weaker, but he didn't know if it was because she was dying or because the demon was gaining control again. He didn't want to know. "Yes!" he lied. "Don't worry, just relax. By tomorrow morning, you'll be okay again. I swear it, Dana. I swear it." "I can't stay any longer... I can't... I love you, Mulder..." Tears fell from his eyes and landed on her cheeks. She wasn't dead but the thing inside her was back. "Bitch," it snarled. "Don't bother lying to her, Foxy. She's going to die." Mulder ignored it, ignored all but the book in front of him. He'd never been a religious person, but now he was putting the life of the woman he loved at stake as he trusted in a God he wasn't sure he believed in. He opened to the first page, the book of Genesis. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," he read, his voice breaking at the unfamiliar wording. On the bed, Scully writhed, spitting more of the horrible green liquid onto his hand. It burned and he had a sudden mental image of the skin melting away, but ignored it and continued. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." The whole bed was shaking by now, lifting off the ground. Scully was vomiting the green stuff onto it, her body twisting and the demon yelling obscenities. "Damn the false God you choose to worship! I am the true God! Worship me!" it screamed, turning Scully's head so that it vomited this time towards Mulder. He leaped backwards and heard the hissing as the stuff hit the floor. He shook his head to clear it and try to block out the sounds before him. "And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day and darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." Anything in the room that wasn't stuck to the walls or floor was in the air, just missing Mulder's skull. Scully was screaming now, the screams usually cut off by more of the steaming vomit, which was now covering most of the bed and all of her bare form. Her eyes- Scully blue, not the demon's red- were huge, looking at him and begging him to stop reading and make the horrible torture on her body stop. She was flung from the levitating bed and back down, her frail body making a horrible 'thunk!' each time it hit. Her hair, tangled and dirty, hit her face hard enough to hurt. Each time she hit the bed, she tried to grab it with her hands, but failed. She only succeeded in ripping off most of her fingernails and her fingers dripped blood as she clawed for anything she could hold onto. Mulder felt his chest constrict as he had to ignore her screams and pleading eyes. It was getting harder and harder to read the words on the book through the tears that filled his eyes, threatening to spill over at any second. But the demon wouldn't win. He had sworn to Scully he would save her. He'd always done his very best to keep every promise to her. Now wasn't going to be the first- and only- promise he broke without good reason. "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament Heavens. And the evenings and the morning were the second day." The straps finally broke, releasing bleeding wrists and ankles and allowing the demon to lift Scully higher into the air each time. It was laughing maniacally again, still vomiting. The vomit no longer spurted from Scully's mouth; it slowly dripped and ran down her face and neck. "You're losing! Your false God will be damned forever! I will be God! I will fuck the angels, shove all the filthy Bible's into their asses' as deeply as they go and then I will rip them out and do it until they are all dead!" Mulder felt his tears immediately dry. Scully was losing control again. He didn't know if she would make it much longer. He read again with more vengeance, skipping ahead to a part that he felt was more appropriate. "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good!" Scully stopped thrashing then, her eyes closed for a moment and Mulder felt his heart skip a beat. Then they opened again and a voice he had never heard came from her lips. This voice was strong and strict but also filled with love. "Starbuck," it said. "This is Ahab. You can't give up, Starbuck. I know you're stronger than this thing. I'm here with you, Missy's here, we're praying for you. And so is your partner. You can't leave him, Starbuck. Much as Missy and I would like to have you here with us, he needs you more." The voice changed again. "I know, Daddy. I know," Scully said. Her eyes closed again. Mulder dropped the Bible on the floor and went to her side, putting a hand on her neck to feel for a pulse. Before he found one, she coughed and her body jerked, then her eyes again opened to look into Mulder's. "Mulder," she whispered, reaching forward to touch his cheek. "Mulder." "Shh, Dana. It's okay. It's all over now," he said, reaching down and pulling her close to him. He could feel the blood on his face from where she'd broken her fingernails and remembered how weak and injured she really was. Her wrists and ankles were still oozing blood, her eyes and cheeks sunken. "We're going to the hospital, okay?" "Yeah," she looked at her hands. "That's okay." She was quiet, licking her scabbed lips as though deep in thought. When her eyes suddenly closed and she bit her lip, he was sure she was going to cry and prepared to rock her for now, forgetting her injuries. But instead, wonderful, free, innocent-as-a-child's laughter filled the room. Not the horrible sound he'd been subjected to for the last few days. It was the best sound he could ever remember hearing in his life. "What is it, Dana?" he asked softly. She looked at him again, still smiling. Her hand returned to his cheek. "I just... I just realized that it's really over." He smiled too, then. "Yes, Dana. It's really over." ***** THE END Hope you liked it! Again, send any replies to fox_mulder1013@hotmail.com or send them through little.green.man@earthling.net I love feedback! Thanks for reading, Kinados