Title: Fathom
Author: arlene pama aka agpama
category:MSR
rating: R
e-mail: proxphiler@yahoo.com
disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended with the creation of
this story.  I don not own these wonderful characters, Mulder and Scully,
Chris Carter, a man of genius does, and 1013 Productions.  No money will
be made as a result of this, just pure entertainment. Check Gossmaer and
MSR Library for more of my stories.  Remember, feedback is my spiritual
food.

Summary:  Scully and Mulder investigate what may be an elaborate hoax, and
find themselves trapped in a deluded monster's world, where the only means
of escape is to realize that they are but prisoners of each other's
hearts.     Author's note:  This story pays homage to one of my favorite
stories of all time, The Phantom of The Opera.  Not the play, the actual
story written by Gaston Learaux.  A story that was well researched about a
missing couple, a disfigured genius whose talent was exploited, and how he
tied it to an opera house in Paris.       

FATHOM

Agent Skinner had called Agents Mulder and Scully into his office.  He
waited for them to sit before throwing a pair of tickets down on his desk
for them to take a look.  "What's this?" Mulder asked as he picked it
up.  He simply ordered them to get a tuxedo, an evening gown, and to be at
the Wang Theater in Boston for the 8:00 performance.  "It's your new
assignment" Agent Skinner said.  The cast and crew claimed to have
experienced paranormal phenomena, and to top it off, one cast member has
been missing for days. Scully and Mulder's assignment was to act
undercover to get to the bottom of an elaborate hoax, as everyone hoped it
to be.

Mulder knocks on the door dividing his room from Scully's.  He heard no
response, and so proceeded to enter.   To his amazement, he sees her
through an open bathroom door, removing a towel wrapped around her
torso.  She must have not heard his knocking from the thundering noise of
the water.  He watched her bare, petite figure slide into the shower. 
Mulder laughed quietly as thoughts ran through his mind about  what the
dangerous evening had in store for them.  His mind was far from the case
at that moment.  After he thought it was safe to proceed farther into her
room, he headed for the shower, calling her name, pretending to be looking
for her.  She responded above the noise of the shower, "I'm in here,
Mulder!"  He welcomed himself into the small pink, steamy bathroom, and
sat himself on the toilet bowl cover.
  
"Guess which cast member has been missing for several days?" he asked her.
She shouted, "I don't know Mulder, the woman who plays the role of
Christine Daa`e?"

"A character more important than hers" he hinted. "The Phantom?" she asked
incredulously.

"His name is Peter Lazaro, and hasn't checked in since three performances
ago.  But the show must go on and they've found someone to fill in the
role.  The police had given me information on evidence of foul play.  They
found his wallet in a trash can in a nearby alley-stained with blood." 

Mulder abruptly stops as he notices Scully's skin pressing against the
pink, semi-transparent shower curtain.  He took a closer look trying to
make out which part of her body, was that round opaque bump located. 
Meanwhile inside the shower, Scully works a lather on her body with the
shower gel.  She sets one foot on the edge of the tub, adjacent to the
wall to soap up her thighs and legs, not realizing that her butt had made
an impression on the shower curtain, and in Mulder's mind. 

Then Scully asks, "Do they have any leads?....Mulder?....Are you still
there?...Mulder?" she calls out one last time before pulling the curtain
to peer out, only to see Mulder staring at her direction, but looking
further downward.  She looked down to see that the shower curtain revealed
a vague image of the naked body behind it.  "Well?" she impassively asked.

Mulder unfixed his eyes and replaced it on her crinkled forehead.  He
crinkled his in response and said, "Oh yeah, I'm going to walk over to
that alley, and see what else I can find.  I was going to ask if you
wanted to come along, but it's okay." He slowly stood and backed up
towards the door continuing to say, "just get yourself ready.  I'll meet
you here around 7:30."

Scully snapped the curtain shut, and when she heard Mulder again, she
opened it to find him peculiarly close.

"I'll be here by 7:30" he slowly repeated.

"I heard you the first time, Mulder" Scully informed him.

He returned at 7:30 sharp in a spiffy bow-tie and tuxedo, carrying a box
containing a corsage.  He stood at the doorway, staring at a woman who
looked a lot like his partner, but with a little more vibrance and skin,
wearing a long black, sleek halter dress, that revealed  delicately
chiseled shoulders and  a silken sculpted back.  Her hair had more volume
and luster, accented by her dangerously full lips-shiny and wet as she
licked it while putting her earrings on.  Her eyes looked like an exotic,
aqua-green lagoon, shimmering like diamonds from the room light. 

He cleared his throat and Dana turned around to hear him say, "Ahem! Tell
me I'm in the right room." 

"If you're here to escort  me to see The Phantom of the Opera, then this
is the room"  Scully flirted back.

"You look..." Mulder did not want to step into the danger zone. He said,
instead, "like you're ready", to safely  complete the sentence.

"You look good enough to be my date, Mulder" she said.  'Oh no' he
thought, 'she's in the zone.'

"I just received information that a team of FBI agents will be dispersed
throughout the theater.  So there's no way the extortionist can escape
after retrieving the money," Mulder explained.

"What was he black-mailing the theater owner for?" Scully asked as she
slipped on her stilettos.

"Payment for the theater he claims to own," Mulder answered. "And if
payment isn't met?" Scully inquired.

"The outcome will be disastrous, Mr. Wang quoted his extortionist saying.
He realized his threats were real when props were vandalized, the sound
system had been tampered with, and the leading man suddenly missing. The
cast and crew started seeing , and hearing things, many believing that the
theater was haunted.  The trouble had been going on for three months,
before Mr. Phantom decided to make that request two days ago.  He wants
2.5 million dollars for every performance, or the audience will witness
actual blood-shedding on stage, each and every time his request is not
met."

"Where will the money be located?" Scully asked.

"In a chair in one of the boxes.  We'll be sitting right across from it
like two unsuspecting thespian lovers," Mulder replied.

He lifted his arm for Scully to hold on to, and she wrapped hers around it
gracefully.  


They arrived at the theater and were received by the owner and his
colleagues, and did as they were told to act as personal acquaintances. 
Mulder quietly assured the owner that the money had a tracking device in
case the extortionist was able to escape from their sight.  They proceeded
to take their seats and Scully glanced at Mulder as the music began to
play.  Mulder held on to that glance, recalling the incident that
afternoon in her room, indicating to him that there was something about
this case worth playing the undercover part to its fullest potential. 

"Did I mention that you look stunning tonight?" he whispered in her ear.
She whispered back into his ear, "I wanted to look convincingly
inconspicuous."

Ironically, there were a lot of things that night that were convincing to
Mulder, an extremely conspicuous figure and sex appeal flowing through
Scully.


The men sitting around Mulder and Scully were murmuring about the money,
taking a risk in losing it.  One man mentioned, "I heard quite a few of
the employees claiming to have heard voices, that kept repeating, 'Box
five, box five or Christine dies'."

"I hate to say that should this ghost story spread, the theater will
either receive a huge amount of income from curious audiences or we may
turn out to be the laughing stock of the theater community; regardless,
the employees aren't going to stay quiet much longer, and things have been
getting pretty out of control around here, " another man expressed.

Now, Mulder's interest was turned up a notch to hear about a paranormal
experience.  "Have you heard the voices yourself?" he asked the man.

"No...well not exactly, " he responded and continued to say, "While I was
walking in the hallway I felt a draft passed by me.  By my ear,
actually-like someone whispering in my ear.  Drafts are usually chilly,
but this felt warm.  I found that unusual, but not paranormal."

Mr. Wang was convinced that someone was playing an elaborate hoax,
impersonating the Phantom of the Opera, to achieve his means.  "Ghosts are
myths of the past, and that's why we called on the FBI's best to find out
who is behind this.  I am confident we'll catch this fellow, and put an
end to this hysteria."

Mulder responded to his comment, "The phantom of the opera was not a
ghost.  In fact, he was some savant with horrible physical deformities,
which forced  him into a life of freakshow exhibitions.  Someone
recognized his genius, and exploited it.  The legend, if I may explain,
says that he built trap doors, dungeons, torture chambers, for emperors
and sultans.  Because of his knowledge of such secrets he was persecuted
and built himself a lair fathoms underneath a theater in Paris to escape
death.  He too, extorted money from the owners.  It may sound ludicrous to
you, but what you described could very well be a repeat of the real
thing.  He will follow through with the threats.  He must have access to
the backstage.  He might be one of the crew or cast members.  Maybe
someone who didn't get a part."

"Mr. Mulder", Mr. Wang muttered, "the only torture chamber or dungeon you
will find is on stage constructed by our very talented crew.  I can assure
you that there are no secret underground caverns.  I made sure that I was
present during most of the construction of this theater, after our first
contractor was fined for faulty construction on the foundation."  

The performance begins as they here the theme song playing.  The stage
light casts a glow on the exposed luminescent skin of Mulder's partner
sitting, enthralled, beside him.  Her beauty was magnified in the
darkness, making her look so radiant, so dazzling. The music had an
enchanting effect on the both of them. Mulder immersed himself with the
thought of touching this woman beside him, imagining villainous thoughts
of subduing her and carrying her off into a room where no one can hear her
screams of rapture, caused by the hand of her captor.  How he wanted to
feel her soft skin.

While on the other end, Scully was captivated by the story's morbid
romantic character-the dark, shadowy phantom.  How his passion controlled
him to make music and to teach this young girl to sing like 'an angel', to
soar with her voice only to be lured into his dark world, where she would
become his prisoner.  Back in the real world, Scully could see that it was
a story she was familiar with.

Mulder makes his move and leans over to whisper in her ear, "this is my
favorite part," placing his hand over hers on the arm rest.  Scully feels
his lips almost touch her ear, and she finds herself elated from the
sensation.  She looks at their hands and she smiles, as she shares this
moment, with Mulder.  He keeps it there as he watches the scene where the
Phantom has hypnotized Christine and leads her down to his lair. 

The Phantom sings:

You have come here for one purpose, and one alone I have needed you with
me to serve me...... Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses....
 
.....Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams Purge your
thoughts of the life you knew before Close your eyes let  your spirit
start to soar And you'll live as you've never lived before.... ....Let
your mind start a journey through a strange new world Leave all the
thoughts of the world you knew before Let your soul take you where you
long to be Only then can you belong to me....

These words sung with powerful emotions compelled Scully to think about
her journey with Mulder, and how it had always been difficult for her to
open up to extreme possibilities.  There was so much darkness in this
journey, but hope remained on the fact that the distance left to travel
would eventually lead them to the light-to the truth, and Scully knew that
she alone was the one to complete that journey with him.  A tear streamed
down her face, and she didn't want Mulder to see it at all or she would
never hear the end of it from him.  She subtly swiped the tear with her
finger, but as the Phantom continued singing in his tender voice, her
heart sucked in  the depth of the meaning of its words, and her eyes
flooded instantly with tears that held the vision of those words.  Her
subtle swiping became frequent and obvious to Mulder who didnt turn to
look at her but pulled out a hankercheif from his coat pocket and handed
it to her.  The hand that rested on hers now held it tightly indicating to
Scully that he too felt the powerful meaning of the song.

During intermission he asked her, "You must really empathize with the
torment the Phantom is going through."

"I saw him as you, Mulder," she muttered. "This is basically a story about
an obsession, about his life's work and who he wanted with him to make it
complete."

"You add new meaning to the word "spooky".  For the first time, I can see
a romantic connotation in it,"  he jested.

They return to the seats to watch the second half of the performance,
almost forgetting  about their actual mission of the evening.   This case
had sent them to the front line of their clearly identified boundaries,
both making that step to cross over, slowly but surely.  They watched the
performance intensely, as if the end would tell them what their future
held.  Scene one was being performed when the trouble began.
 
Just then, Mulder's  cell phone rings.  He answers it, and keeps his eyes
across the room.

"What is it Mulder?" Scully asks.

He leans over to Scully to say, "I'm going to use the restroom" before
getting up with the cell-phone still attached to his ear. 

After a couple of minutes had past, Scully looked out and found Mulder,
across the theater, searching around the empty box.   Then her phone
rang.  She took it out of her purse and answered it, "Mulder? What are you
doing there?"

"Scully, the sack containing the money is gone.  The tracking team lost
its signal after it left this room."

By now, undercover FBI agents rose from their seats to search for the
missing sack of money.  

Suddenly from no where Scully heard a voice singing 'My little Lotte' into
her ear.  She turned to see if anyone had said or heard anything.  The men
behind her were too distant to whisper into her ear, and the voice sounded
as if it came from a young youthful man.

She called Mulder immediately and told him to return to her, but he
couldn't.  "They just found movement in the backstage area.  I'm heading
over there now,"  Mulder replied and hung up.

Mulder tried to dodge people as they ran back and forth to make their cues
on stage.  Then suddenly he heard people calling for Christine.  They
couldn't find her.  The stage director yells out "Christine you're on in
five, four, three, two, one."  Christine made it to the stage on
cue-falling to her death, from the cat walk several feet above, with the
money slowly drifting downward like confetti  on her. 

The audience panicked and chaotically evacuated the theater.  It was
pandemonium, as the FBI did not have enough man power to control the
frantic crowd. Scully tried desperately to make her way to Mulder. Mulder
tried to find a way to get on that cat walk.  He climbed up a ladder
hoping to trap the assailant.  He spotted a man dressed all in black
swinging towards the thick curtains, and shouted at him, but the noise
from below made it impossible to even hear himself.  The figure vanished
into the dark velvet curtains, and Mulder could do nothing else, except
return to the bottom.  Meanwhile, Scully made her way to check the body on
the stage.  She concluded that the victim fractured her skull from the
fall.  She looked at the floor practically covered with 2..5 million
dollars worth of marked bills, some marked with the victim's blood. A man
who identified himself as an FBI agent told Scully that Mulder wanted to
meet her at the box where the money was taken.  

She entered the box to find no sign of Mulder.  Once again, she could hear
the whispering, "My little Lotte."  Before she could exit the room she
turned to find a tall  dark figure standing right in front of her.  

Mulder dialed for Scully's cell-phone.  It rang and someone answered. 
"I'm sorry, I think I dialed the wrong number.."  Mulder was cut off by a
man on the other end, "Is this agent Mulder?"

"Yes" Mulder answered, I'm trying to get a hold of Agent Scully...

The man cut him off again saying, "this is Agent Scully's phone, I found
it in the empty box, with her purse, and her corsage on the floor."

Mulder made his way into Mr. Wang's office.  He was searching for the
theater's blueprints.  He found it and quickly studied it.  He looked at
the infrastructure and discovered that it was built on top of an old
subway tunnel, no longer in use.  There has to be an entrance between
those curtains.  He quickly informed the other FBI agents about his
findings before climbing the cat walk again.  He grabbed on to one of the
ropes and swung down towards the curtains.  He crashed into the wall, but
remained clinging on to the curtains.  He knocked at the wall, and found a
hollow spot.  He found a tiny handle and fiddled with it until it moved. 
It slid to the side and made a small opening.  Mulder entered the small
hole and into a dark space between the walls.  He turned on his
mini-flashlight and began to observe the surroundings.  There was a vast
network of trap doors and secret tunnels that the crew might have used in
the past.

He heard Scully shouting from far away.  The cries bounced from the walls,
as he ran to get closer to the sound.    
        
At the end of the stretch he could see the figure carrying Scully over his
shoulder.  Mulder held out his gun and shouted at the figure, but he didn't
listen, continuing his steady course as Mulder started to race towards
him.  He disappeared from Mulder's sight during the pursuit.  Then
suddenly the figure lifts his arm up and clotheslines Mulder as he runs
by.  The dark figure easily carries the two unconscious agents into his
lair.


THE TORTURE CHAMBER

Mulder and Scully both awaken to find themselves in a damp-cold cell built
of stone with a three inch, thick, glass window on one side of the wall,
allowing both them and the phantom to view each other.  The phantom spoke
through a microphone. 

"I made a simple request, that could've been simply followed.  But
apparently there are a few people who insist on insulting my
intelligence.  I find that most distressing, especially when I was dead
serious." He lets out a maniacal laugh. 

Mulder could see the silhouette of a man standing on a platform.  He took
his flashlight from his pocket and flashed it on the Phantom's face. "My
God! Peter Lazaro, the Phantom himself," Mulder discovered.  "Now it makes
sense.  I read your file.  You were an MIT graduate, and you worked for an
engineering firm.  The same firm that worked on the theater construction,
you screwed up...

The Phantom laughed, "Correction my friend.  I was tasked to come up with
a similar design of an Opera house in Paris.  To my amazement, I
discovered that the way the theater was built gave some credence to the
legend of the Phantom of the Opera.  I wanted to make an exact replica of
it here in Boston, but the theater was to be built on an existing subway
station.  It wasn't faulty construction, I assure you.  The firm was fined
for a breech of contract dealing with the floor plans.  Mr. Wang and I just
had a differing in ideas.  I decided to quit the architectural field and
turned to a new passion.  One that I had mastered in Paris, and voila! 
Here we are."

"What are you going to do to us?" Mulder asked.

"Well, Agent Mulder.  This is the torture chamber.  I was expecting the
two of you, after I over heard Mr. Wang request for the best FBI Agents in
paranormal phenomena to come and exorcise the theater's ghost.  It would've
been rude of me not to prepare myself for your arrival.  I did a little
research and found out quite a lot about you two.  Suffice it to say, you
and your partner have been through worst.  What doesn't kill you will only
make you stronger,"  the phantom said.

"You can't do this to us, they'll find you.  They were right behind me," 
Mulder warned him.

"Mulder you're really insulting me.  I lead you here.  Those men will fine
nothing but a hollow wall with a fuse box I had just re-inserted. "Good
night. I hope to see you in the morning-alive!!" he says leaving sounds of
sinister laughter trail off into the darkness. Mulder gets up and starts
knocking on the walls.  "Scully we have to get out of here.  There's no
telling what kind of torture he has in store for us."

Scully rotates her neck and says, "He squeezed my neck for only a second
and I passed out."

"You've got the bruise to prove it too"  Mulder added.

He stood for several minutes tapping, knocking and attempting to pull the
stones from the wall.  Nothing was happening so he took the space next to
Scully and sat himself down.  

"It's kind of cold in here" Scully commented.  Mulder quickly took off his
jacket and draped it over her shoulder.

"I wish you didn't have to wear that beautiful dress for this lousy
assignment.  I was hoping that it would leave a good impression in my
mind,"  Mulder commented.

"This old thing? You can have it after we get out of this mess.  That
ought to give you an incentive,"  she challenged him.

Suddenly one side of the wall started to vibrate.  They both sprung to
their feet thinking that it may be an earthquake, but soon realized it was
something else when they heard a screeching noise.  The noise came from the
ground as the hard stones grinded against the floor. 

"Mulder, the wall is moving," Scully figured.  She pressed her hands
against the wall and assisted Mulder who was trying to keep it from moving
any further, but their  efforts only managed to slow it down.  Shortly
after, the wall behind them started moving forward too.  Mulder ran to it,
leaving Scully to push the other with all her might.  It was not working;
however slow the movements were the walls were surely closing in on
them.  Then Scully out of desperation came up with an idea saying, "Here
goes my two hundred dollar investment" removing her stilettos and wedging
the heels between the bottom of the wall and floor.  It moved a couple
more inches before coming to a grinding halt.  All was silent again, with
the exception of their labored breathing.  They both sat down, in their
now, much smaller torture chamber with a capacity for only two people, and
the thin air they needed to survive.  The ceiling had grills and behind
these grills was a complex mechanism that let out cool air.  

Hours later, the cool air became terribly cold, and ice started to form
around the ceiling grills.  

Mulder bundled Scully into his arms, rubbing hers to generate heat.  He
was freezing cold too, and there was no other solution in enduring this
cold temperature, but to get up and move the body to get the blood
circulation going.  Mulder encouraged Scully to run in place, or to do any
kind of aerobic workout for at least an hour.  Since Scully's shoes were
scrunched under the walls, she couldn't step on the floor without getting
her feet frost-bitten.  She started to bang on the window, but it didn't
make a sound.  No one could hear her screams through the sound-proof
glass. 

Mulder quickly opened his shirt and shoved her cold feet, pressing it into
his belly area.  They were both achingly cold.  He said to her "thank God
you have small feet" to lighten the mood, especially considering how much
heat it would take from him.  She cried and laughed all at once trying not
to let the pain completely take over her.

He then took his socks off and placed it on Scully's feet.  As he rubbed
warmth into her foot, she quickly took Mulder's arms rubbing it to return
the warmth.  He was shaking all over, but he was relieved to find a little
comfort against another shivering warm-blooded being.

It felt as if hours had passed in that human ice box.  To make things
worst, the genius phantom added into his refrigeration mechanism and
ice-maker.  Tiny cubes of ice started to fall to the chamber floor.  They
weren't phased by it initially until the force intensified.  Scully took
Mulder's coat off her and threw it over their heads.  Mulder pulled her on
to his lap so they both could get better coverage, and he just let his coat
drape over the both of them, while he rubbed Scully's chilled bare arms. 
Underneath the jacket were the audible sounds of chattering teeth.   "What
k-k-kind of sick-k-k  b-b-bastard is this-s-s  g-g-guy? Scully chattered.

"Heee's eith-ther ex-x-tremely b-b-bored or s-s-sadistic," Mulder
chatteringly replied.

"When we make it out of here, I'll k-k-kill him,"  she resolved to say.

"He g-gave us till the morning, so we h-have t-to just make it.....to past
his torture tests,"  Mulder pointed out.

He accidentally rubbed his nose against her cheek and she reacted,
"Mulder, your nose is frozen.  Put it against my hair.  A frost bitten
nose is worst than frost bitten toes-a toe you can chop off and conceal,"
she pointed out.

He eagerly listened, and nuzzled his nose trying to inhale the scent of
her hair, but realized that his olfactory senses had been shut down for
some time now.  He nuzzled his head on her shoulder and rested his nose
against her neck instead.  

They managed to fall asleep through it all, only to wake up to the sounds
of dripping water from the ceiling grills.  Some of the hail had melted
into water creating a small puddle around them.  Mulder checked his
watch.  It was 6:25, in the evening.  The phantom lied to them about
releasing them in the morning.  He wiped his forehead, it was moist after
being once caked on with a thin layer of ice.

His pants were partly submersed in the cold puddle.  And strangely that
cold puddle felt surprisingly soothing.  He took the jacket over them and
threw it around Scully, taking care to wipe the wet strands of hair from
her face.  She slowly came to and slipped the jacket off her, and sleepily
leaned on Mulder's shoulders.

"Scully get up, my leg is asleep"  he uttered.  She didn't want to get up
so he lifted her and placed her weight on his good leg.

"Mulder I feel sticky all over" she said with her eyes still closed.

"Its okay, its from the melting ice,"  Mulder reassured her.

An hour later, the ice had completely melted, leaving behind a pool of
water.

Scully would eventually awaken finding relief  by splashing her face with
the cool water.  Both of them were glistening with perspiration by this
time.  Mulder unbuttoned his shirt all the way down, while Scully
constantly readjusted the top of her gown.

Soon it was unbearably hot.  Mulder scooped water from the ground and
slurped it up himself, he ordered Scully to do the same to keep their
bodies from dehydrating.  Although Scully was the doctor around here, her
mind was not thinking clearly.       

She just took the handkerchief from Mulder's jacket and soaked it with
water before rubbing it on her neck and chest.  She caught Mulder looking
at her, and scooted over to him to wipe him down.

"Scully you've got to drink the water, our bodies have been through
extreme temperature changes.  We've got to replenish what our body has
lost,"  he implores.

"Mulder, there's no telling what used to dwell in this cell.  I don't want
to pick up what may have been dormant bacteria only to bring it to life in
my belly, after so many years,"  she explained.

"Scully did I tell you how hot you look today?" Mulder quipped.

She smirked at him, "A hundred degrees in this bacteria infested
water-hole, can make you look real hot," he meant to say.

Scully continued to pour water onto her chest.  She looked at this man
across from her covered in slimy sweat, in a sort of sexy way. And he
looked at the roasting woman in a beautiful evening dress, remove the lock
of hair constantly finding its way in front of her eyes, allowing him to
get a better view of her sticky sweetness.  Either his senses were being
manipulated after experiencing the torture chamber's el nino effects, but
she was really 'looking hot', as Frohike would put it.  

Scully paused from wiping herself after feeling an urge to use this
moment, as an excuse, to explore Mulder's body with the wet hanky.  She
soaked it in the water and traced the outline of his shoulders, arms, his
Adam's apple, the lines on his chest.  They were hard and cut.  

Time had elapsed and the room was beginning to steam up.  The puddle on
the floor had practically evaporated.  The two prisoners were now soaked
in their own sweat, their flesh pink and hot.  Mulder's white shirt was
now transparent revealing his wet chest, and arms.  He couldn't remove it
though, the walls were beginning to seer.  Their skin almost burnt from
the exposure of the heat.  The same jacket that was used to keep Scully
warm was the same jacket used to protect her skin from being burned by the
hot walls.   Scully kept her eye on Mulder and he on her.  They could not
talk that much, and so they relied on their eyes to watch over each other,
to make sure the other was going to make it.

"Mulder, if I don't make it. I want you...."

"Scully, don't talk like that, we're going to make it," he labored to
say.  Both their eyes heavy from the thick steam.  

"What I want to say is thank you for everything you have given me, for
being there for me" she softly said, "I never wanted to say this before,
but because of the present situation, I wouldn't know if I can choose not
to say it."

"What, Scully?" Mulder weakly, but earnestly asked.

"That....THUD!  A sound coming from the ceiling....SNAP!

Scully tried to finish what she started to say, "...I feel
strongly....CLANK! Then they hear a cranking sound.        

And just when the heat became bearable, they hear a thundering noise from
above.  Before they knew it, water was gushing by the gallons into their
cell from the grills.  

"I think this is his grand finale" Mulder concluded.

The water was now up to their knees, and Scully came to a chilling
conclusion.  "Mulder, I don't think anyone was meant to survive this
test."  

"Scully get on my hand and try to pry those grills open"  she complied and
started banging on the grills, but to her dismay found it firmly bolted
down.  Now the water was up to their waist. 

"Let's try and push the walls back, that'll buy us some time."  Mulder
suggested.  They both pushed with all their might, but managed to only
move it an inch.

"Again Scully!" by this time the water was already encroaching the petite
Scully's chest. 

"Scully get on my shoulder quick, and try, with everything you've got, to
pry that grill open!" 

She did as she was told, and shook the grill with all her might.  When she
realized that it hadn't budged at all, she looked down at Mulder and saw
that the water was rising quickly above his chin.

"Keep hitting it Scully!" 

"It won't budge!" she frantically yelled.

Then suddenly she heard a snap, the grill was unlocked.  "It's open! Try
and get out, Scully I'll wait for the water to reach the top so I can get
out too!" Mulder instructed.

The grill was extremely heavy from the pressure of the gushing water, but
Scully managed to get her shoulder wedged underneath it and slid the rest
of her body through.  The other end of the wall was where Scully thought
the water came from.  The wall dropped into a slight incline and Scully
slowly scooted herself downward.  Then, she heard the grill snap shut. 
"Mulder!" she shouted.  The thundering noise became louder, and behind
Scully was a deluge of water heading towards her.  On the other side,
Mulder had stayed afloat until the water was suddenly released from the
tiny room.  He was washed into another room after an opening appeared in
one of the walls.  He fought his way back into the torture chamber to get
back to Scully.  As soon as he got through, the once flooded room was now
completely empty, only echoing the thundering sounds of the water in the
next room Scully had entered.  He climbed the wall by placing each foot on
opposite sides.  "Scully!" he shouted repeatedly "Hang on!"

"FBI Agent Mulder, trying to pull the curtains over my show!" the phantom
said through a microphone, as Mulder continued his upward course to the
grill.

"Scully!" he called out for her, exerting what was left of his strength to
keep his grip on the wet slippery walls.

"Mulder!" the phantom exclaimed, "FBI Agent Dana Scully is here.  Come on
out, and let's all properly introduce ourselves."

Mulder quickly squeezed himself through the small opening and walked
towards a platform where the phantom was seated.  "Where is she?" Mulder
demanded.

"There" the phantom simply said, nodding his head to an area behind
Mulder. When Mulder turned he could see nothing but the pitch-black color,
of a glass window, of what seemed to be a second chamber.  

"Where is she?" Mulder asked with his patience tried.

Lights flashed on and in the window appeared a green glow of water, with
Scully treading to stay afloat.

"You bastard! Get her out of there.  You're going to kill her."

The phantom laughed and explained to Mulder.  "That's why I love the
theater.  The suspense can kill you, can't it?"

He sighed and continued, "I will spare her at your request, but on one
condition.  That she stay with me here.  To be my companion.  I know that
she will learn to love me, like the way she has learned to accept your
far-fetched beliefs.  I know about you, Mulder.  I've heard about your
reputation in the Bureau, having a fetish for the paranormal.  I was
hoping we would meet someday, and funny how things happen."

"She's drowning in there!" Mulder shouted and started to walk towards the
aquarium.

"Wait just a minute!" he shouts and in the silence the sound of a trigger
being cocked echoed through the dark lair.  

"She won't be needing you in her life anymore, Mulder."

"Wait!" Mulder pleaded with both hands up in the air, "You know about me,
don't you.  That I'm an outcast within the Bureau.  You know what its like
to feel that way. Am I right?"

"What's your point?" asked the phantom.

"My point is, I'm just like you.  I have a passion that everyone sees as
madness, including her" he says as he points towards Scully.  Mulder
stutters to explain as fast as he can to get the phantom to release Scully
before she drowns.  "Nothing can ever replace the insight she has on the
work we've done, on the kind of person  I am, and the reason why I
continue my pursuits.   I've been living with the guilt of being
accountable for taking her freedom away, to help me find the truth, even
to risk our lives in the process.  She'll do it for me.  And I'm sorry,
but I need her and I won't let you have her."

Mulder makes a dash towards the large aquarium knowing that his life is no
more in danger than his drowning partner's.  The phantom fires, but Mulder
makes a dive for the ground as the bullets shoot by him, breaking the
glass and the barrier between water and the much needed air for Scully. 
The aquarium shatters, causing an explosion of water splashing to the
floor.  Dana glides like a fish washed up on shore, among the shattered
glass.

Mulder quickly grabbed her, wiping the wet hair away from her blue face. 
He was overcome with grief to see her extremely pale.  He set her down and
blew into her mouth some of his air.   He started to pump her chest still
seeing no sign of breathing.

The phantom stood at his platform, pointing the gun directly at Mulder's
back, ready to fire at any second.  Then he heard the echoing sound of
Agent Scully coughing out the water occluded in her chest, and the sounds
of sobbing coming from Mulder as he held her tightly.  The phantom dropped
the arm holding the gun, and stared longingly at the sight, acknowledging
to himself, 'that there are prisoners of the world we perceive ourselves
to live in,  and there are those who we take by force into our world, and
those who choose to be our prisoners at will.  He knew Mulder spoke from
the confines of his heart, where Scully dwelled.  And so, he stepped down
from the platform and graced the lonely darkness of his abode with his
presence once again.

Scully opened her eyes to a weeping Mulder.  For a second she thought she
had died and was experiencing an out of body experience.  "Mulder" she
weakly sighed, bringing him to open his red, misty eyes to her.  The color
on her lips and cheeks, were revived as Mulder gently rubbed them with his
thumb.  He looked at her  blessed to know that whether it be the darkness
of lies or in a dungeon, he is the only one who can bring her to the light
and will continue to.  Mulder presses his warm lips against hers in
celebration  of their survival from the harrowing torture-chamber. 

'You're alive,' he beholds.  'You're alive!'

As soon as Scully was able to stand on her feet Mulder cautioned her that
the phantom may return with other tricks.  They tried to find their way
out of the dark network, walking through mazes of walls. And at the end of
the maze did they get an opportunity to escape as they saw a familiar
structure.  It looked like the tunnel for subway trains.  The rails were
eroded  and blended in with the rocks.  They followed the tunnel for about
a mile before Scully could not stand walking on her bare feet any longer. 
She insisted that Mulder get help while she wait there-she was tired, but
Mulder adamantly refused to let her out of his sight for a second, and
carried her the rest of the way.  They finally reached a closed subway
station, with no one there since the subway's operating hours had
passed.  Luckily two police officers who were patrolling the area spotted
them walking up the stairs. It was now 12:30 in the evening.


Mulder and Scully went straight to their hotel rooms to clean up, after
providing the police with enough information on the phantoms
whereabouts.  There was a knock on Scully's door.  She didn't reply but
Mulder went in anyway, and found Scully, in her pink silky, pj's still
lying on the bed.  He had with him his traveling bags, ready to check
out.  

"Go on ahead, Mulder.  I'm going to sleep for a while-I'm exhausted," she
muttered with half her mouth sunken into the pillow.  "Can you do me a
favor, Mulder?"

"Yes" he said, completing the sentence mentally he added, "anything for
you."

"Can you grab the aspirin in my bag before you take off, I have a
headache."

Mulder rummaged through her bag and found it.  He poured her a glass of
water, and sat at the edge of her bed.  She turned and slowly sat up to
take the medication, her hair tousled on one side of the face.  Mulder
watched, with adoration,  as Scully washed down the pills.  He moved the
hair away from her face and then placed his hands on her forehead to check
her temperature.

"Scully, you're burning up!" he exclaimed. "We have to get you to the
hospital."

"I'm fine, Mulder" she said falling back onto the pillow.  "I just need to
rest."

Mulder dropped his bags to the floor, and himself on a chair.  

"What are you doing, Mulder?" she asked.

"I'm going to rest too,"  he replied, folding his arms before closing his
eyes.

"On that chair? Mulder, its extremely uncomfortable,"  she protested.
"I'll be a lot more comfortable on this chair than on an airplane without
making sure my partner is out of life-threatening danger."  With that
said, he looked at Scully,  who had already fallen asleep.

He stood up to tuck her in, and to remove the bottle of aspirin from her
hand.  He placed it into the bag, and when he set it on the drawer, a
piece of paper fell to the ground.  It looked like a receipt.  He was
about to put it back, until he noticed a price.  He looked closely and
read that it was a credit card voucher for $2,230, signed by Dana
Scully.  Another receipt stapled to it, indicated that the items she
bought were;  a pair of Salvatore Ferregamo shoes worth $279, a Prada
evening dress worth $1,764, and a small list of accessories totaling up
the remaining amount.  Mulder was stunned to see Scully spend so much for
just one evening.  Her dress was even ruined during the process.  He
noticed it lying on the floor, three sizes smaller.  And the shoes she
sacrificed successfully saved their lives.  He was impressed at the extent
Dana would go through to make things work, especially if it dealt with
him.  "Did she try to impress me?" he asked himself.  He settled back
into  the chair, ready to fall asleep, after answering his question. Yes,
he was extremely impressed.

Mulder woke up to the sounds of rustling sheets.  He saw Scully tossing
and turning and when he went to her, he could feel her burning up even
more.  He quickly took the sheets off from her to cool her down, but she
curled up in a ball and started to shiver.  Mulder didn't quite know what
to do. He called out to her, but she was unresponsive.  She was the
doctor, and he didn't know exactly how to treat a fever.  Then he figured
out just what to do when he remembered how Scully cared for him at one
time.  He quickly ran to the bathroom and doused a face towel with
water.  He came running back into the room and placed it on her
forehead.  He took another towel and wet it, to wipe all over Dana's
body.  After a few minutes he was able to cool her off, but she was still
shivering.  She kept throwing the blankets off her, complaining that they
were too thick.  Mulder hated to see the look of discomfort on her
grimacing face.  She looked so helpless and it made his heart sink not
being able to provide the comfort she needed at that moment.  He set
himself next to her, to rub her arms and legs.  He kept rubbing until he,
too, fell asleep. 

During the course of the evening, Scully's tossing and turning, landed her
on Mulder's out-stretched arm.  She rolled towards him and rested her back
comfortably against  the contour of his body.  Even in sleep, Scully could
feel her body recovering.  There were less aches, and it wasn't as cold as
before lying in this bed that had now added a fuzzy, warm feeling into
her.  When little did she know that the fuzzy warmth was coming from a
half-dressed man lying beside her.  She did eventually realize that it was
Mulder when he draped his arm over her from behind, but she was too
exhausted to think anything of it.

Mulder wearily woke up shortly after, seeing himself get too comfortable
with Scully.  Her backside curved, snuggled against his front side.  He
slowly pried himself away from her, trying not to disturb her sleep.  But
when he backed away, a draft came sweeping in between  them and she
scooted right back into him.  By now, he was noticing a response to a
certain stimulus.  Her body rubbed against him and he wasn't sure if he
could fight his urges if he stayed in contact with her.  He moved a little
and Dana, groaned disgruntled in a childlike manner, before scooting into
him again.  He kissed her on the cheek as he propped his upper body up
with an elbow.  She turned her head and kissed him before whispering,
"Thank you."  Clearly in twilight, she could feel the wet sensation as she
kissed what she imagined was his cheek.  It wasn't.  She missed it
completely, and when she struggled to open her heavy eyes, she was able to
view, Mulder's eyes, heavy but full of brightness.  He whispered back,
"thank you,"  and groggily smiled before plopping his head on her shoulder.

For a moment they were awake, without much effort they drifted into
twilight sleep.   Scully reached from behind her and grabbed Mulder's
arm.  She set it over her and nuzzled herself again, snug against Mulder's
frame.  She put his palm over her breast and Mulder intended to move it
away, but she firmly held his hand and kept it exactly where she wanted
it.  Whether it was a dream or not, Mulder was too exhausted to think, he
just let himself go, hoping to ultimately fall into a deep sleep.  He felt
wonderful inside, tingling all over.  The sensation was accompanied by a
rapid beating heart.  That, he was aware of, but what he didn't know was
the cause until he was able to locate the tingling sensation.  It was in
his hand.  To be more specific, the hand that was now fondling Dana's
breast.  It was also in his belly.  To be more specific, his lower belly,
rubbing against Dana's back.  It was dark in the room, and in the curtains
of their closed eyelids, summoning other senses to be put on full force. 
The song softly singing in their heads:

Night-time sharpens,
heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses....
 
.....Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams Purge your
thoughts of the life you knew before Close your eyes let  your spirit
start to soar And you'll live as you've never lived before.... ....Let
your mind start a journey through a strange new world Leave all the
thoughts of the world you knew before Let your soul take you where you
long to be Only then can you belong to me....

He rested his nose against her perfumed neck, and tasted its flavor with
his lips and tongue, while unbuttoning her blouse.  There was no need to
open their eyes, they were doing just fine.  He cupped her breasts,
squeezing them, then  playing with the nipples, pinching and brushing it
with the tip of his finger.  She groaned, smiling as the sensation pleased
her.  She turned her head slightly to meet Mulder's and engaged in a slow
kiss, encompassing every area of the mouth, with their wet searching
tongues.  

Mulder slowly rubbed his hardening penis against Scully's behind.  He
pressed it against the space dividing her butt cheeks.  When he thrusted
forward, she pressed into it, moving in a slow-winding rhythm.  He brought
his mouth over her breasts, and she sighed to feel the cold air, harden her
wet nipples.  His tongue moved slowly yet touched all the right spots
aching for relief.  It was soft at times and hard in an instant; however
it's strength came at the right time and place.  He remained behind her
back pressing against her.  Then, he slid his arm into her pajamas, and
through her panty he did rest his fingers on the hot skin beneath the
fuzz.  He slid a finger between the labias, and discovered that it was
extremely wet, then gently eased two fingers against the lips of the
throbbing layers of pink skin, and caressed the inside with his middle
finger.  Scully placed her leg over Mulder's, and she moved in response to
his touch.  Mulder's tongue was tucked in Scully's ear, she couldn't
contain the tension welling up inside her.  It pounded in her head, her
heart, and in the empty walls of her vagina.

"I want you" she whispered into his ear before devouring it. He sighed at
both the words and the sensation produced from her mouth, turning her over
and slipping off her garments, then his slacks.  He opened his eyes
momentarily while Dana lay there, eyes closed, anticipating, with a smile
of delight on her face for Mulder's long-awaited entry.

He brought his body over hers and embraced her tightly with his arms, she
doing the same.  He moved his distended penis to find its refuge and
reward in the slippery-smooth, chamber kept by Dana Scully.  It welcomes
him, immediately sucking him in.  They sigh simultaneously.  He begins to
move in her slowly, and slow does he want things to remain.  Slow and
hard, cultivating the deprived senses their bodies will come to know and
desire from each other.  She contracts the swollen muscles after each
thrusts penetrates deeper into her molten core.  Both locked in a twilight
world of surrealism, they act out the contents of their semi-unconscious
mind, unaware of its directed course, but aware of every sensation.  The
smell of intimate fruits was in the air, and Mulder can feel Scully ripen,
he knows the time is close for harvest.  She curls her legs around his as
he steadily increases the pumping.  He has become her prisoner at will,
sinking deeper into her inner chamber, and the only hopes of escape is to
rea ch deeper.  Into the erupting walls.  He finds his freedom in there,
and just a moment earlier, he returns to give his gift to her.  Dana
writhes, bravely enduring the pangs of unfathomable pleasure.  She
succumbs, twice more exhausted, floating back into the comfort of the
twilight world.

Scully awakens but she doesn't want to open her eyes.  She smells the
strong scent of flowers, lingering over her.   She doesn't want to stop
this dream.  It felt so real, yet it possibly couldn't. 'Enough of the
high school romantic dreams,' she convinced herself.  'I must wake up and
endure another ordinary day' she resolved to say.  She opened her eyes to
the still dark room, and turned to her side.  Mulder was not there.  Her
smile turned into a frown.  It was just a dream, she realized.  Mulder had
never stepped into her room that night.  In fact, he must be sleeping like
a log in the next room.  She was extremely embarrassed for letting a dream
get out of control, for thinking that she and Mulder could have something?
Now the embarrassment was too much for her, she pulled the sheets over her
head.  And in that same moment Mulder barged into the room through the
front door.  He walked passed her bed to the windows and opened the
blinds. "How are you feeling?" he said as he twirled the blind's stick.
She lifted her arm over her face and squinted after being blinded by the
abrupt flash of sunlight.

"Wake up, Scully its two o'clock in the afternoon."

"What? The fever must have wiped me out," Scully muttered.

"The fever?" Mulder laughed.  He walked over to the bed, and handed her a
container of bottled water.

"I just came from the police headquarters.  They found no trace of a
dungeon, just some beat up subway trains.  But what they did find was
Peter Lazaro in a hotel room, dead after severing an artery trying to
inject heroine into his system.  What was interesting, was that, in the
subway, they found a page of a musical piece soaked on the sewer floor. 
It was titled, 'Resurrection of Lazarus'-a piece played by Christine's
father which the phantom used to lure her to him.

"You looked under the sheets?"  he asked.

"What for?" she asked.  She picked up the sheets and discovered her naked
body surrounded by flower petals.  Mulder peeks in and she flinches in
reflex, but soon realizes that what she thought was an invasion of her
privacy, was actually the materialization of her dream.  

"I didn't want you to think that last night was just a dream,"  he fixed
the  same strand of hair that kept falling over her eyes, and bent over to
kiss her.  She knew it wasn't a dream, he was kissing her with the same
soft, pliable tongue, she had felt last night.  "I did however, drop by a
store to get something you might need for tonight."

He stood up and grabbed a shopping bag beside the door.  He pulled out
from it a black dress, the exact same one she wore the night before, and a
shoebox containing the same sacrificial shoes.

"Mulder, what did you do that for?" she wondered.

"To celebrate-our life, and freedom."

THE END
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