Title: Sisters Two Author: Maureen S. O'Brien Rating: PG-13 Category: S Spoilers: Christmas Carol/Emily Summary: On Halloween, many worlds meet. Disclaimer: Characters and situations from The X-Files belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions, and Twentieth Century Fox, and are used without permission but with imagination. Author's Note: This takes place in the same world as "On Christmas Day in the Morning", "We'll Live on the Moon", and "A Lady from a Far Country". But you don't have to read those to understand this, so it's just a gratuitous plug. Sorry my Halloween story's a bit late. And yup, I'm crazy to post this right before the premiere. Why do you ask? This one's for Erin McCole Cupp and Scott Beckerman. -------------------------------------------------------------- Oh, sisters two, what shall we do For to preserve this day This poor youngling for whom we now sing Bye bye lully lullay? --- "Coventry Carol", English Traditional. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The seals reclined in the autumn sun, shuffled and swam and dove. They were all around her on the rocks. Some of them were what they seemed. A seal heaved himself out of the water, and another and another. And suddenly they were men and women, short and brown and muscled as the seals, but laughing as a seal never can. She watched them as they spoke excitedly about the school of fish they'd found. Then their dark gazes met her own. "The Listener's here," she heard one say. "Bad luck, especially at Samhain." "Deathblood," another shuddered. "We'd better go." And they slipped into the water and were gone the next instant. It only happened once, she protested silently. When she was young, before her skin had grown tough and weathered. But once had been enough to repay the People who had taken her in with death. Never mind. She turned over to let the sun bake the troubles from her bones, found a comfortable position and let the world go away. So of course she heard a motor just then. She headed for the water, staying low. Within a few heartbeats, the ocean was hiding her. She went underwater and stayed there. She couldn't shapeshift to fit in, but she could go without breathing for almost forever. She was nothing if not patient and careful, for she knew what would happen to her if she were ever seen. Then she heard the voice -- though it should have been drowned out by the motor and the water above her. A woman's voice, calling, "Samantha! Samantha Mulder!" Her mind exploded with a frenzy of images she'd hoped she'd forgotten, and she swam for her life for the open sea. But oh, God, the motor's throb was fading behind her, but the voice was not, was not, was.... And a redhaired woman was suddenly floating in front of her. "Please, Samantha," she said, taking no notice of the water surrounding her. "She needs your help." They'd found her and they were in her mind! She kept swimming. Maybe if she could get far enough away from whatever they were using.... "This isn't a trick, Samantha, and I'm not with Them." She smiled. "They're the ones who had me killed, in fact." She had her mother's temper. Angry with the lies, she plunged straight through the woman's image. And she, who felt no more chill when naked among icebergs than she did in her own bed at home, felt her body turn cold. Samhain, when the dead walked. El Dia de los Muertos, when mortals visited their beloved dead. All Hallows' Eve, the night of all the saints. "I told you," the woman said quietly. "I'm dead. That's why I can't help her." "But why should I?" "She's a hybrid like yourself. You're sisters under the skin." "Whose boat?" "My brother Bill's. He gave me permission to use it when I visited him. Although I doubt he ever ran it out here." 'Here' was the other world, where the People usually lived. She could travel between the worlds too, but she never felt welcome here. She was too human and too alien for that. With a dead woman steering, the little motorboat made far better time than it could have in the world of humans. When the dead walked the earth, they could go where they chose; but this dead woman claimed to be lazy. The water was cleaner, too, though the sun never shone. "Who is 'she' and why is she in danger?" "Emily, my sister's daughter. They stole her eggs, and then...." "Humans don't lay eggs." "They must have stolen you young!" "I was eight," Samantha said defensively. "Old enough to get away." "Remind me to brief you on the facts of life. Anyway, They were able to make children from my sister's genes...genes?" "I _was_ at the Project." "Good point. Well, some of the shapeshifters made children for their own purposes, to make hybrids not controlled by the Project. Emily was one of them. My sister found Emily, and then the shapeshifters stole her back again after faking her death. But what the rogue shapeshifters don't know is that They finally managed to trace Emily. They want all the unauthorized hybrids destroyed. And I don't want my niece to die." "If it's far from shore, I'll need clothes." "Here. Some of my sister-in-law's." The building smelled of formaldehyde and cleaning fluid, not the clean smells of salt and seaweed and dead fish. The dead woman had forgotten socks and shoes, so she padded along the linoleum in her bare feet. "This way," said the dead woman, unafraid that anyone would hear. "Where are the other hybrid children?" "With their adopted families. We can torch those records on our way out, or tell the shapeshifters to do it." "No. I'm here to save your Emily, not touch fire." "You..." The dead woman broke off. "They are almost here. Run!" Samantha had not forgotten how to run as she used to, and her feet slapped the linoleum as swiftly as they had flashed along the sand or a base path. And as the dead woman waved her around a corner and through a door that came unlocked as soon as she touched it, she suddenly remembered her brother yelling, "Safe!" And all that waited behind the door was a little girl with red-blond hair, who sat up in bed and stared at her as she came in. Samantha stared back. "There's not much time!" said the dead woman. "Get her out of here." "Hi, Emily. My name's Samantha. C'mon." The little girl didn't move. "Walk or be carried," said Samantha. "Some really bad people are coming, and I can't let them catch you or me." Emily pointed at the dead woman. "Who's she?" The dead woman grinned. "You're definitely a Scully...I'm your Aunt Melissa. Get moving, squirt." "Can I go piggyback?" Samantha didn't argue. She just squatted down, let Emily seat herself, grabbed Emily's feet in her hands, and ran wherever the dead woman led her. Twice she had to dodge Them as she ran away, but the dead woman got them through. And then they were at the beach, and there was nothing between them and the boat... ...nothing but a tall man who stepped out of shadow so quickly she would have sworn he'd shapeshifted right out of the air. "The girl is ours," said the shapeshifter. "Not anymore," said Samantha, praying that the other world was close tonight. "You _can_ breathe underwater?" the dead woman was asking Emily. Emily smiled. "Yup." "Thank you for saving her. But we need her to help us understand. To stand between us and the humans." "She's a little girl," said Samantha. "She's not supposed to be doing anything but learning and playing and being loved. And that's what she's going to do." "But we need her! The Date is set!" "Then come see her when she's older." The fog of the other world was rolling in now. Just a minute more.... "Come see her where?" "East of the sun, west of the moon," Samantha intoned, enjoying herself. "Beyond the hill of glass and the plain of fire, come seeking her and she will be found, if you are worthy and your heart true. But for now...." Samantha flashed into the water with Emily, feeling the water and fog welcome her in like a daughter. "For now, she belongs to the sea!" "You're the one who said she belonged to the sea," the dead woman pointed out with amusement. "And you know the other world tends to take that sort of thing seriously." "But it shouldn't be possible!" Samantha protested. "She doesn't know that." Emily was part shapeshifter. But they could only change from one humanoid shape to another. Emily had imitated the People and was swimming happily with them in the shape of a seal. She'd have to warn Emily to be careful, for she had the deathblood, too. Samantha looked up at the dead woman. "I won't tell her. I just wish I could change to a seal myself." "You're both a bridge between the People and us mortals, whether the People like it or not. And when the Date comes, we'll need a bridge between humans and aliens and the otherworld, the land and the sea and the stars." She grinned. "You can tell us how everybody thinks. Your brother's good at that." "My brother -- Fox -- you know him?" "Know him? He's practically family!" The dead woman grinned again. "Take care of Emily for me, sister. See you next Halloween." The sun rose and she was gone, leaving Samantha with a little girl and a thousand questions. Samantha shook her head with exasperation. Then she slipped into the ocean to catch up with Emily. "Their records?" "Removed or destroyed before we got there." "And the girl? Emily Sims?" "Her fingerprints were all over her bedroom, and her bed was unmade. This was in it." He handed the Elder a small evidence bag. It was full of sand. ----------------------------------------------------------- Maureen S. O'Brien mobrien@dnaco.net http://www.dnaco.net/~mobrien/fanfic/ Nov. 8, 1998 at X - 45 minutes.