This story is based on the character and situations created by Chris Carter, Ten-Thirteen Productions, and FOX Broadcasting. I've used them without permission, no infringement intended The following work is for the distribution and entertainment of EMXC members only. Any further distribution of this work without the author's consent is in violation of federal law. Please contact the EMXC host, Karen Enriquez (XFF SciNut@aol.com), if you have received this work from anywhere other than the above group without the author's permission. I am no expert on firewalking, so any inaccuracies are my fault. This story was finished 1/8/96. It has nothing to do with the episode "Firewalker". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Firewalker By: AgtScully0@aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Walanapanapa Beach Maui, Hawaii Friday 7:40pm The smells from the recent luau were intoxicating combined with the aromatic flowers outside. Anne Markson took a deep breath, trying to absorb as many of the fumes as possible. Through her training she had been able to develop her skills to their maximum level. And she would need all her training for what she was going to do tonight. Ahead of her she saw the black beach come alive with a glow. A small patch about thirty feet long and five feet wide glowed a bright orange. Music flared up in the background, the tropical music Anne loved. It helped her enter the alternate reality she needed to focus in. A man performing the same task walked up to the glowing patch and took a step forward. He never emitted any sound of pain. He kept walking forward. Firewalking had never sparked any particular interest in Anne, but her boyfriend had said he wanted to teach her to firewalk. He was a Hawaiian and loved all of the island traditions. She on the other hand, was from Mississippi. The extent of her leisure activities had been to go to the Mississippi River Valley to photograph weather conditions. That was her hobby. A few years ago she had begun studying firewalking, and then her interest was peaked. She learned how to firewalk by a master of the skill until she too became a master. She then began to teach the skill to students, becoming her teacher's assistant, and soon a teacher herself. The man completed his walk and came back to the starting point on the other side of the coals, occasionally stopping to show people that his feet weren't damaged. She took a deep breath. Her boyfriend had taught her how to do this, and she was still amazed at his ease of walking across the hellish heat of the coals. Even now, after all the times she had done this, she still got jittery when first getting into the coals. The first step was the hardest to take. The rational part of her mind screamed no, but the other side reasoned that she did this countless times before. She picked up her right leg and stepped onto the coals, letting her mind drift into the alternate reality she needed to be in. The more steps she took, the more confident she became. Small steps soon became confident strides. The man stood to the side watching the woman walk across the hot coals. He had been watching her all during their luau, and then at the gathering beforehand. The only thing going through his mind was revenge. Anne was halfway finished. She heard the chants of others around her, their cheers and whoops. Suddenly, she felt the coals become hotter and hotter. She looked down only to see a massive fire-ball rise up and swallow her in it's flames. She had not had enough time to panic or feel any pain. The fire-ball had subsided and Anne Markson's body collapsed onto the hot coals. A massive panic arose in the crowd. People ran screaming back to their homes, and others just panicked and ran everywhere. Only a few people came forward to drag the body off the coals. The man looked forward once the panicked people had fled. There were four people surrounding the body, all of which looked depressed and saddened. A slight smile formed on the man's lips as he limped down the beach. Washington, D.C Monday 7:30am Dana Scully crept up next to the bed. She carefully surveyed the lump on the opposite side of the bed. She quietly crawled on the floor over to his side, making sure he didn't see or hear her. She stopped in mid-crawl when she saw the lump under the sheets move slightly. Dana resumed when he stopped moving and became still again. Once she reached his side, she counted to three then sprang up reaching out with both arms to hold onto the lump. "Got you," she said triumphantly. The lump, still covered by the sheets, wiggled free and began to cross over to the other side of the bed. "Oh no you don't, Fox," she said and dove forward to stop him, however he was too fast and cleared the bed, then ran towards the closet. "No, Fox," she yelled as he emerged carrying out her underwear as well as a bra. She cursed under her breath as a knock at the door came. "Be there in a minute," she yelled. The man at the door knocked again, then tried the door-knob when he heard a crash and Scully yelling, "Fox, not my underwear!" Dana ran after Fox, trying to get her clothes away from him. "Fox, if I have to sleep with you, you're going to take a bath," she yelled again. Finally she caught up with him and dove across the living room to catch him by his legs. Looking up she saw the man standing inside her apartment laughing. Fox Mulder leaned forward as Scully released the dog, and it jumped into his arms, still holding onto her underwear in his mouth, having shed her other garments around the apartment. Dana slowly got up from the floor and took back her dog, after it gave her underwear to Mulder. "I was trying to give him a bath," she said taking back her underwear from a hysterically laughing Mulder. "I'm so happy you find this funny," she said, walking back over to the sink to resume the dog's bath. "I'm. . . sorry, Scully. . .but. . . but the way you look right now. . . and what you were saying before. . ." he tried the best he could at an explanation between laughs, but seeing her giving him "the look" while holding her wet dog and having her underwear over her shoulder was too much. He collapsed onto her couch in tears from laughter. He tried the best he could at regaining her composure before saying, "I'm not sure naming the dog after me was such a good idea, I mean, well, what if Skinner was the one at the door." Mulder thought about that situation and began to laugh again. Scully looked back over at him while trying to keep her dog quiet, "Mulder, why are you here anyway? We only get a day off once every three years. Don't you have something to do?" The dog barked again and tried to squirm out of her hold. "No, Fox, stay," she said then looked back at Mulder waiting for an answer. "I got bored and went to the office-" "Mulder, there are such things as movies theaters," she cut him off. "I got kicked out and banned from the theater last time," he said, wearing his little boy face. "I'm not even going to ask." "Anyway, I found something that should spark your interest. A case in Hawaii." "This wouldn't by any chance have to do with UFOs, would it Mulder?" "I see no evidence of UFO activity." He waited until he saw her sigh in relief before adding," Yet." He grinned at her and was rewarded with another "look". Fox decided at that moment that he was too wet, and shook all the water off of him, having it land all over Scully. "Argh, Fox, no!" she yelled, getting a towel. She grabbed another towel and wrapped it around her dog as she picked him up from the sink. She made sure the towel was tightly around the entire body of the dog, so that all that could be seen was his little face. "Here, Fox, play with Daddy for a while," she gave the dog to Mulder again, and walked back to her bed-room to get dressed. When she came back out dressed in jeans and a T-shirt she found Mulder cursing at the dog as it once more shook the water off of himself and straight onto Mulder. She watched as Mulder picked up the dog to yell at it more closely. He held it straight up to his face. Dana waited silently for what she knew from experience was coming. Just as Mulder brought the dog to face-level, Fox's little pink tongue darted out and licked Mulder's face. "Ugh," he grunted. Dana giggled, "It's a Kodak moment." Mulder turned around in shock, "Scully, don't you dare." He let go of Fox and watched him jump back onto the couch, still damp with water. Her amusement over, she said, "So about this case?" "What do you know about firewalkers, Scully?" he asked handing her the file he had put on the coffee table earlier. Before she could say anything he said, "Four deaths involving firewalking in the past three months. Occurring in Fiji, Tahiti, and the most recent in Hawaii. In all these cases the victims were burned to death." "I'm no expert on firewalking, but Mulder the most damage a person could do is damage to their feet. There is no real fire that hits them, they walk across hot coals." "Well, the witnesses say that a giant fire-ball arose and engulfed the victims in it's flames." She arched an eyebrow as she read through the file's details and looked at the pictures. "There is another agent in Hawaii assigned to the case, but he's completely stumped with this one, and has asked for us." Scully closed the case file. "Okay, when do we leave?" "Today at three." "Today? Mulder, that's a little short notice." "Well it's a long plane ride there, and it was either today, or tomorrow and we wouldn't be able to get there until Wednesday." She grumbled something under her breath about plane rides that Mulder didn't catch. "Okay let me start packing. Mulder could you do me a favor and get all of Fox's stuff ready to go?" she said going back into her bedroom to pack. "Sure, Scully." He took out all of the dog-food and his little doggy toys and put them into a paper bag. He then walked toward the door, and before leaving said," Scully, don't forget to pack your two-piece Speedo. We could match." He heard her shout from behind her closed door, "Good-bye, Mulder." Maui, Hawaii Beach-side Hotel Tuesday 7:30am Both FBI agents entered their hotel dead- tired. Neither could sleep on the plane from all the turbulence and the constant screaming of babies, and parent's yelling at rambunctious children. Not even Mulder was able to ignore it. Aside from all that, the plane was completely packed and they had to fly coach, both partners were squished into each other from the other passengers on the opposite sides of them. The car ride to the hotel wasn't any better. Even though it was only morning, the heat was terrible, and the air-conditioning stopped working. The entire way Scully threatened never have any kids after that plane-ride. The only thing they had managed to do right was figure out the time conversions so that they were running on Hawaiian time. At the hotel they decided that before meeting with the other agent, they would both get sleep. Once they entered a man dressed in khaki shorts and a tropical print shirt came running towards them with smile on his face. "Hi, I'm Agent Ken Philips. Assistant Director Skinner told me you'd be coming. How was the flight out?" Not even the look the agents gave him would discourage his attitude. "Did you guys eat yet? There's this great place we could go for breakfast." Mulder managed to keep down any feelings of attack and said, "Agent Philips, don't take it personally, but Agent Scully and myself are in the sort of mood right now that would enable us to rip the throat out of anyone who gets in our way, right now we just want to go to bed for a while." Agent Philips kept up his smile, "Doesn't the bureau have policies against that kind of stuff?" Mulder went over what he had just said in his mind, and winced at what the agent had interpreted it to be, as he received a elbow in the ribs from Scully. "But if that's what you want to do, who am I to stop you," the agent grinned again," is an hour enough time?" "We'll see you at ten, and then go for breakfast," Mulder growled. "Okay, and Agent Mulder, I suggest you change," he pointed to Mulder's FBI suit and coat, "It gets brutal around here." After he left Scully grumbled, "I hate him already." Mulder half-smiled, and continued walking with Scully to their rooms which were right next to each other. "See you later Scully." She grunted something in return, which Mulder decided was her way of saying see you later. They both collapsed into their beds for a long over-due sleep. Milo's Diner 10:30am Agent Philips watched in amazement as the two agents in front of him wolfed down any sort of food that was put in front of them. He had counted ten cups of coffee drunken between the two of them. His mouth then dropped open as they fought over the last piece of toast. Both had sneezed on it to try to discourage the other, then they began verbally insulting each other, receiving glances from the waitress and the other customers. The toast finally broke in half and they both got a piece, but by this time Philips had sunk as far down as he could in his booth-seat. "So I take it the plane-food was as delicious as ever," he said after all the food on the table was eaten. "Food! See, Scully I told you something was missing on the plane," Mulder said as sarcastically as possible. Agent Philips caught the drift and changed the subject. "So do either of you have a theory?" "We were going to ask you the same question," Scully said. "So far I'm at a standstill. The witnesses all say the same thing, and the victim's boyfriend wasn't too helpful either." Mulder cut in, "We would like to arrange to talk to him." "I already did, and he-" "Well, Agent Scully and I would also like to talk with him, then we would like to go to the site where the woman was killed. Has an autopsy been done?" "Wait one damn minute, let's get this straight, this is *my* case. You're here to help me out." "And that's exactly what we're doing," Scully said, beginning to get flashbacks of the case they handled with Colton. The younger agent stared forward at the two of them, then took out a pen and wrote on a paper napkin. "Here, that's where he lives. His name is Carter Reeves. I'll meet you back at the motel when you're done so you could change and go to the beach." "We should change?" "Mr. Mulder while we're here in surfing country we might as well take advantage of it," he said, his smile returning. Home of Carter Reeves 11:30am Mulder knocked on the door. He heard movement inside, and immediately the door was opened. He quickly took out his badge and waited for Scully to do the. "Carter Reeves? I'm Agent Fox Mulder this is Agent Dana Scully we're with the federal bureau of investigation do you mind if we come in?" Reeves looked at them for a second. Mulder could imagine what this man was thinking. Neither looked much like FBI. They both wore shorts and T-shirts, the only thing which probably convinced him were their completely white faces. "Sure," he said slowly, "Come on in. Are you with that other agent who came by?" "Yes, we're helping him with the investigation," Mulder said while surveying the apartment. "Carter, did you notice anything that appeared suspicious or strange that night?" Scully asked. The man ran a hand through his blonde hair and wiped away a tear from his eye. "No. I had walked across the coals first, Anne went after me. Why didn't anything happen to me?" "Were any of the people suspicious, or did anyone ever threaten you or Anne?" "No, no one threatened us." He paused for a moment. "Wait, I remember something about that night. Anne kept coming up to me saying some guy was staring at her. He was pretty creepy." "Do you remember what he looked like?" "Nah, all I remember was him. It was too dark, and I was too pre-occupied with the walk." "How often are the coals lit, and you firewalk?" "Well, whenever we have a big enough crowd. Anne and I taught people how to firewalk." Mulder cut off Scully's questions, "So if you have a big enough groups you'll go out and do your thing?" "Yes. Agent Mulder I think you should realize that this is no simple task. It takes training and skill to be able to reach the trance state. You just don't go out without any knowledge and walk across coals. That's just plain stupidity." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, but when do you think you'll be going out there again?" "Not too many people want to go now that someone died, but I could have another class of students together for Friday. That's when the next one was scheduled." "Mr. Reeves I would appreciate if you held that date." "Okay, but don't expect a big turnout." Mulder nodded and handed him a card. "This is my number if you think of anything else, please call me." Carter got up from his chair and showed them to the door. Scully thanked him for his time as her and Mulder made their way back to the car. Once inside she said, "Okay Mulder, I know when something has clicked. What is it?" Mulder smiled. "Can't hide anything from you can I Scully? The other three victims were listed as masters of the skill, who also taught others. Anne wasn't listed in the case file as a teacher, but today we find out from her boyfriend that she is. So whoever is doing this obviously has something out for firewalking teachers." "You know Mulder, sometimes you surprise me." "Oh really?" he said arching an eyebrow. "You immediately assume it's a who and not a what?" "That's because, Scully, I did some research before coming. A few years back a man attempting to firewalk was very badly burned. He was a resident of Tahiti, and was taught by one of the very best teachers. The man swore revenge on the teacher." "And you believe this man is behind it?" "No, he died a few months ago, just a few weeks before the first murder occurred." "As a result of his injuries?" "The injuries he sustained were massive damage to his feet. Third degree burns covered them. He lost his ability to walk afterwards." "How did you find this information?" "I did some research on firewalking before I came to your apartment, and I came across this one instance, so I looked it up further. The man's name was Mark Rosin." "So, you think, what, Mark Rosin has come back from the dead to kill all teachers of firewalking?" "That doesn't sound too bad." Scully rolled her eyes and glanced out of the window to see a woman walking a little dog. Mulder saw her mood change. "So which neighbor did you bless with the pleasure of looking after Fox?" he asked. "Mrs. Kosmon, she's the only one left who still thinks he's a well-behaved little angel." Mulder snickered at the thought of the dog being well-behaved. He brought the car back into the hotel parking lot, then shut it off. He opened the door and walked next to Scully as they both entered their separate rooms. Minutes later Mulder re-emerged wearing a more conservative pair of Speedo swimming trunks and a colorful tank-top he bought in the airport gift-shop. He walked to Scully's door and knocked. "Be there in a second." She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. She was wearing shorts over her two-piece Speedo bathing-suit and holding onto her own tank-top. "I have no idea how you ever talked me into buying this thing Mulder," she said looking at the top half of her bathing suit. "I thought it'd look cute if we matched." "What were you doing with me there anyway?" "You dragged me there with you." "Yeah, I'm sure. And since when did I ever going swimming with you for anyone to notice that we match?" He shrugged and looked up as Ken Philips approached them. "Ready?" he asked. "Yeah," both agents said simultaneously. Ken surveyed them both, and lingered a little when he looked at Scully. "Did you guys put on sun-block?" Scully noticed Philips staring and decided it would be a good time to put on the tank-top. Mulder also noticed and added with a slight edge in his voice, "Yes, let's go." Just for good measure he gave the younger agent a discouraging look. The walk up to the beach wasn't too long. The hotel's name wasn't as mis-leading as the others, and they actually were beach-side. "Walanapanapa Beach means black beach," Ken said along the way. "Just so you guys aren't in shock. The waves are humongous this time of the year. Twenty feet." He soon found out small talk wasn't going to work. "The site is about a mile and a half down the beach. This is the closest point to the site where we could enter the beach." Scully looked down the beach towards the ocean. The waves coming in were filled with surfers as well as swimmers. "What about sharks?" "Yeah, a fair amount of those too. The water's nice and warm, but no real Jaws'," he said with a laugh, "Mainly the harmless ones nurse sharks and a few little ones." By the time the trio reached the site, they were full of sweat and all their tank-tops were shed and being dragged by one hand at their sides. The coals stretched ahead for thirty feet and a five foot width. They were as black as the sand around them, the only thing that distinguished them from the sand were the white rocks along the perimeter. Mulder walked into the shade one tree made. He sat down and rubbed his burning feet. "And I thought white sand beaches were hot." "Don't worry Agent Mulder, with all the trees in this area, it's a lot cooler than the open beach." Mulder shook his head and got up to examine to coals. He dropped onto his hands and knees and ran his fingers through the sand on the side of the coals and motioned for Scully to do the same on the other side. Scully's fingers touched something and she brought it up. It was a chain pendant of the moon. She looked at it closer than tossed it to Mulder. "Agent Philips, similar pendants were found at the other three sites, correct?" "Yes, does this have something to do with the deaths?" Mulder looked up at him. "I don't know." Scully walked up to the coals and pointed to a spot near the middle, "Is this around the area where she died?" Philips nodded. Scully then bent down and picked up a coal, and placed it into a zip-lock bag she had in her pocket. Mulder surveyed the area again and shook his head, "I don't see anything around here that can help us," he looked over at Scully, who nodded in agreement, then back to Philips, "We'll take you up on that surfing offer." Mulder watched in amazement as Scully paddled out and managed to catch a wave and soar back towards the beach. He was busy trying to pick all the pieces of sand out of his hair, after wiping out at least four times, having the cuts and bruises to prove it. Ken Philips had left early to analyze the piece of coal, so the other two agents could at least take advantage of being in Hawaii. Scully came running up to Mulder, holding Philips's board over her head. "C'mon Mulder, your turn." "No thanks, Scully. I've got enough bruises to last me awhile." Scully laughed and sat down on a towel next to him. Mulder studied the group of surfers she was with before. They were as amazed as he was that she was able to surf better than they were. They were shouting for her to come back out and join them. She just smiled and shook her head. He looked back at her. "I didn't know you could surf," he said. "My dad taught me. He took all of us out one day and spent hours trying to teach us. I was the only one who managed to learn." She lay back on the towel and reached for her shorts. She reached into one of the pockets and pulled out her sunglasses. "So Mulder, that necklace, what does it mean?" He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "Can't put one by you can I Scully?" "I know you too well." "I'm starting to wonder if that's a good thing or not. But anyway, the moon symbolizes life, death, and re-birth: it waxes, wanes, and then vanishes from the heavens for three days, and then reappears to grow again to fullness." Scully sat up. "Something tells me that I'm not going to like what you're thinking right now." "The moon appears to die and be reborn each month, we call them the lunar phases. Now Scully, this is just a hunch, but I think we better ask to move that firewalking ceremony to this Wednesday." She moaned in frustration. "And exactly why should we do this Mulder?" "I think you were right, Mark Rosin has come back from the dead to take his revenge on the teachers." "And exactly when did I suggest this Mulder?" "In the car," he said matter-of-factly. She moaned again. "Okay, Mulder, but what does the moon have to do with this?" "Somehow he has managed to tap into the lunar phases and use them to his advantage to be re-born from the dead during the waning period of the moon, but only if there is a firewalking ceremony going on. He is acting on the revenge he swore on achieving before he died." "Oh of course, Mulder, the lunar phases," she said sarcastically. "Anyway, I think after every month he is able to re-locate to another site." He looked up to see to face his partner was making. "Look, the first murder occurred three months ago in Tahiti, then a month later a second in Fiji, twelve days later another occurred in Fiji, and this month it occurred here just last Friday." She lowered her sunglasses, and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You're not joking," she said. He shook his head. "Look, Mulder, before we do anything, let's wait for Philips to get back to us on that piece of coal, then we could take into consideration whatever the hell you're talking about." "Thank you for being to understanding Scully," he said sarcastically. "You're welcome." She then reached up, pushed the sunglasses back up and lay back down to try to get a tan. "Skeptics," he said under his breath. "I heard that." Beachside Hotel 6:30pm "My feet are killing me." "You should have stayed in the water a little longer then." "How come yours don't hurt?" "I never said they didn't. Wrap them in bandages if they hurt that bad, Mulder." "What idiot goes walking on a black sand beach for a mile and a half in the afternoon, and don't answer that Scully." "Mulder, come on we're going to be late." "I'm coming, I'm coming," he growled. The agents walked out to the dining room of the hotel. Ken Philips waved them over to the reserved table. "I have the analysis for you. The piece of coal was covered in an ash no one was able to identify. It was strange, it was made of nothing, no carbon, no chemicals, nothing." Mulder and Scully exchanged knowing glances. Philips looked at them, "What?" "We had a case which involved that ash before. It's called vibuti, holy ash. It's produced by a transfer of energy and possibly even by spirit beings," Mulder explained. "So that would explain the fire-ball. Someone transferred their energy to the coals and brought the fire to life causing it to burn the victim." Scully's mouth dropped open, realizing she was trapped at the table with two Mulders on either side of her. Mulder smiled and then recited his original theory about the moon to Philips, who actually seemed to be believing it, and accepting it. "That's it!" he yelled and stood up. "We've got to call Reeves, tell him to change the ceremony to tomorrow." Mulder agreed and followed Philips to the pay-phone, where they exchanged further explanation, leaving Scully at the table to wonder "why me?". Later that night Agent Philips came back to Mulder's room, where all three of them planned their course of action. After three hours of yelling and arguing at each other they figured that the best thing to do was to have Philips go undercover as one of the walkers and survey that group for Mark Rosin, whom they found a picture of in a newspaper obituary. Mulder and Scully would then cover the crowd of on-lookers. Wednesday morning they decided they would visit Carter and go over the plans with him, since he would probably be the one targeted, then while two agents did that, the other would alert the police and gather a group of officers to also survey the crowd. Scully yawned after they went over the plan yet another time, and decided to call it a night. She left the two Mulders just as they started to talk about their theories on government conspiracies on UFOs and alien entities. Walanapanapa Beach Wednesday 6:30pm Scully scratched her shoulders. After only a few hours in the sun they had started peeling. She knew Mulder had to be hurting, he had forgotten to wear sun-block and fell asleep right when the sun was at its strongest. His chest had turned a sickly color of red. She had screamed when she saw him. She immediately dragged him off the beach and drove to a pharmacy and bought every can of Solarcaine they had, and sprayed Mulder every ten minutes with it. He had yelped in pain whenever her fingers even came close to his skin. She was beginning to feel sorry for her partner. His feet were just a few shades lighter than his chest, and they were still hurting. He walked with his shoulders pushed in front of him so that his shirt wouldn't touch his chest. He came up beside her from the pit where the pig was buried. "I've never been to a real luau before," he said excitedly. "Does it still hurt?" He gave her a sideways glance. "Next time listen to me when I say put on your sunblock. So when is it going to start?" "Everyone is just starting to arrive. Give them about an hour or so to eat, then we get to the coals." Scully looked around. The only people around were the group of plain-clothes police, Philips, Carter Reeves and a few of his students, and Mulder and herself. "Mulder, if we shoot this guy, well, could he just come back during the next waning period or a month on another island?" "No, I don't think so. He's here on a special basis, damage that and you kill his course trajectory, and he will in fact die. He might be wearing a moon pendant. I think we should either destroy that, or take it off of him. It's probably how he is able to take advantage of the lunar phases. That's the focus of his energies." Scully nodded, and watched a few more people enter the beach. She reached toward her gun to check it's placement yet again. It was hard concealing it. She was wearing a blouse and her denim shorts. The gun was at her left side in it's case and it took her forever to find a position where it wouldn't be noticeable. Mulder was dressed very closely to herself. He also wore denim shorts, but he had on a denim shirt and a half-way decent looking tie. Both were barefoot like everyone else on the beach. His gun was behind him instead of at the side, for obvious reasons. Both watched as the coals were lit, trying to convince themselves that the sudden coldness that spread over them was just their imagination. Two and a half hours later and entire crowd had come, and eaten, and were now ready to watch their skilled friends firewalk. So far no one had spotted Mark Rosin, to Mulder's disappointment. "Could he be on to us?" Scully asked. "God I hope not." Mulder approached Reeves and reminded him not to go across yet, to let his students go. Scully looked up towards the moon and wondered if Mulder was right. She surveyed the crowd and saw something glisten in the distance. She kept her eye on it, and walked closer. She stopped once she saw a man. The glistening came from somewhere on his neck. She walked back to Mulder She tugged on his arm and whispered, "He's here." Mulder motioned to Philips and then walked to the group of police near the end of the coal path, telling them to move the people back, as non-chalantly as possible. Only about fifty people had turned out, so their job was a little easier. Another student approached the coals and walked across them. Scully had watched them for a while, truly amazed. Scientists and firewalkers themselves had never been able to fully explain how they were able to walk across 1200 degree Fahrenheit coals. Some said they just didn't concentrate on the heat or on the coals, but just walking as if they coals weren't there. Once the student cleared the end of the coals yelling triumphantly, she motioned for Carter to go on ahead. She then backed up and walked to Mulder's side. Carter Reeves approached the red-hot coals, then took the first step forward. Mulder looked at the crowd of people near the suspect. He couldn't even see the man anymore. He pushed his way through the people, and then growled in anger, when he saw the place where the man had been was empty. Mulder turned around when he heard Scully call his name and point down the beach to the end of the coals thirty feet in front of them. Mulder pulled out his gun and began running down the beach, towards the dark form that was walking in front of him, ignoring the pain in his feet. Once the man turned around, Mulder pulled his gun in front of him and screamed, "Federal Agent, freeze!" Scully did the same a few feet behind him. Before either agent had time to react, the man brought his hands up and fire began to form at the man's feet, and then spread at a rapid pace towards the agents. Scully screamed, "Mulder, run!" He ran as fast as he could back the way he came, but the fire was going faster than he could. He had three feet left until he was safe, but he could feel the fire at his back, he dove forward and landed shoulder-first into the sand. Reeves even managed to escape unharmed. Mulder screamed in pain as his chest hit the sand. Scully fell to her knees next to him trying to help him in anyway possible. "No," he gasped, "Don't worry about me, go get him." Scully tried to protest, that she couldn't possibly, for thirty feet straight across, the beach was in flames. Everything, except the patch of coals, they glowed, but weren't on fire. She got up, took a deep breath, and said to herself, "Only for Mulder would I do this." She then raced forward onto the coals and ran the thirty foot stretch on the burning coals. She didn't even realize clearing them, all she was thinking about was running, running as fast as she could. Once the man came into her sight again, she yanked out her gun, and yelled, "Federal Agent, I'm armed! Stop right where you are!" The man looked over his shoulder, and she didn't bother on waiting to find out what he had in store for her, she fired her gun three times. The form fell forward, unmoving. She ran up next to him, and turned him over. She located the pendant and tore it off of him. Scully turned around to look behind her, all that she could see was the glow of the coals, nothing else. She smiled and walked back to the small crowd. When she got back, she found Mulder staring at he open-mouthed. "How the hell did you do that? No, no *why* did you do that?" Scully looked around her and saw similar reactions from the surrounding people, including Carter Reeves and Agent Philips. "Well, someone had to stop him," she said looking at the officers who were cringing at the thought of walking across those coals. "Yeah, but Scully, how?" She shrugged, "I wasn't thinking about the coals, Mulder, I was just concentrating on what you said." He motioned for her to sit down, she did, and he lifted her foot up. He examined it, then grinned in the darkness and said, "You're amazing." Apartment of Dana Scully Washington, D.C. Friday 10:12pm "X-File #X611832. The death in Maui, Hawaii is being speculated to be caused by Mark Rosin after several witnesses later identified him at the site, although there is no evidence as to how he killed Anne Markson. "After an autopsy was performed it was found that the body was in fact Mark Rosin. It is unknown, however how he was able to come back from the dead. It is being speculated that the man never died, but staged his death. Agent Mulder as well as Agent Philips believe that he was able to use the lunar cycle to come back during the waning period of the moon, every five days, to take his revenge on the firewalker teachers. It is also believed, but not proven, that he is also responsible for a similar death in Fiji and two others in Tahiti. "Mark Rosin had attempted firewalking in the past, only to be burned to extreme levels that excessive damage to the feet were caused, impairing his ability to walk. The man died a few years later, but before he perished, he swore revenge on the teachers of firewalking. "The body shot was examined, and excessive amounts of vibuti, holy ash, were found all over his feet. "It is my belief that Rosin used this to focus energy on his feet, enabling him to, once more, be mobile. "The entire thirty foot long stretch of beach that mysteriously caught fire, then abruptly stopped when Rosin died, also was covered in the ash "I cannot corroborate Agent Mulder's own theory about how Rosin was able to return, but I do know that somehow his return was affiliated with the moon's lunar cycles." "For years we have looked towards the stars for answers. Could it be that the door to re-birth and eternal life lies not out there, but in ourselves, lying dormant in our psyche, available to those who are able to tap into that power? Perhaps we will never know. Yet, somehow it makes me wonder if we had the ability to use that power, what would we become? It is in our nature to destroy ourselves, could this by another way to speed up the process? It was the human mind that came up with the idea for the atom bomb, it was the human mind that came up with the idea of biological weapon technology, could it also be the human mind that will lead to our ultimate destruction by just tapping into the extroadinary powers that lie dormant within our own minds? This thought I find far more disturbing than any X-File."