Title: Fire Dweller
Author: kawaiidragonfoe821
Author's page: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/528106/
Written: 07/25/2006
Category: X-Files
Genre: Supernatural
Words: 1499
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I OWN nothing and CLAIM nothing!

Summary: Mulder and Scully are off to Hawaii after hearing of a volcano-born creature, but are its intentions good or bad?


"Please remind me again why I allowed you to talk me into this?" Scully said through her fire-proof suit as she followed Mulder up to the mouth of Mt Kohala in Hawaii.

"Admit it; you were curious about exactly what could make a volcano appear to become active after over twelve thousand years of dormancy," Mulder replied in that expressionless way that he did when he knew that he was right.

Scully remained reluctantly quiet, she hated the moments when she couldn't argue with him.

"Apparently, the locals have reported seeing something flying out of this very volcano," Mulder said as he summated the rumbling mountain and looked down into the mouth.

"Excuse me?" Scully replied, her hands on her hips. "Mulder, no carbon-based life form could survive down there."

"Why not? We've seen it before, haven't we?"

"That was a fluke, an abnormality of nature!" Scully argued.

"So, why can't the same be true here?" he replied.

Scully opened her mouth to retort when the ground beneath them began to tremble violently. They began their decent as fast as they could without tripping, they gotten about one hundred yards from the mouth when something exploded out of it in a shower of lava and ash.


"So, are you still doubtful?" Mulder said that night over dinner in the restaurant across from their hotel.

"I really don't know what to say," Scully said as she moved her salad around her plate.

"Why can't you just come out and say that it can't readily be explained away by science?" Mulder said exasperatedly.

"Because I can't readily say that, not until I do some more research," she said matter-of-factly as she took a bite of her salad.

 Mulder smiled at her; he imagined it was as close to admittance as he was going to get.


"Agents, I'm glad that you could make it," Dr. Peters said as he shook both of their hands. "This volcano has been going through periods of brief activity over the mast few months. It's like nothing I have ever seen," Dr. Peters said as they followed him into the research lab.

"and this volcano has been dormant?" Scully asked.

"For the last ten thousand years. It just doesn't make sense that it would experience brief, sporadic periods of activity," Dr. Peters replied.

"No, it doesn't," Scully said thoughtfully to herself.

"What's you're thinking on this?" Mulder asked her as they both slid into their car.

"That we have to get up there for another look," she replied.


"I'm surprised that you wanted to make another perilous journey up the side of an unpredictable volcano," Mulder said as they followed Dr. Peters up the next morning.

"What, and let you have all the fun?" Scully said lightly as she glanced over her shoulder at him, Mulder grinned at her from behind the mask of his fire-protective suit, it was a rare treat indeed for her to tease him.

They reached the mouth of the slumbering giant and looked over the edge, not even smoke emitted from the bowels of the massive volcano "This can't be right, villagers said that there was smoke and ash spewing from this volcano for ten minutes yesterday morning, if that were true then there should still be smoke billowing from it," Dr. Peters said as he took some samples of rock from the edge to study.

Suddenly, the mountain began to tremble underfoot. "Come on!" Dr. Peters yelled over the noise as the three of them tried to get as far away from the mouth of the volcano as possible.

They only made it a quarter of the way down before they heard a massive explosion from behind them that shook the ground so violently that they lost their footing, Mulder grabbed Scully around the waist but he couldn't reach Dr. Peters in time before he went tumbling down the side of the mountain.


Mulder awoke to Scully gently shaking him, he sat bolt upright and they found themselves at the base of the massive mountain. He looked to Scully, but her expression mirrored his of confusion. "Don't ask, I don't know," Scully said as Dr. Peters sat up rubbing his head.

"The last thing I remember, I was tumbling down the mountain side," Dr. Peters said as they all stood bewilderedly to their feet.

"Well, something must've saved us," Mulder said as he eyed the top of the volcano.


Scully lay in her bed in her hotel room staring at the ceiling, her mind filled with worrisome thoughts. Since their strange experience at the mountain the previous day; Mulder had become consumed with finding what had been responsible for their survival, even if it jeopardized his own. It always worried her when he became fixated like this; somewhat reckless by nature, Mulder became conditionally blind to his personal safety when he was on the verge of the truth.

"Scully, I want you to stay here, Dr. Peters and I am going back up to see if we can set up a special heat-resistant camera to try and catch this thing on film. I don't want you to risk your safety, too," Mulder said to her the next morning over the phone, she gave the phone a nasty look as he hung up before she had a chance to disagree. "Scully I..." he began when he and Dr. Peters found her sitting in the passenger seat of Mulder's car at the research center.

"You should know better then trying to ditch me when things get hairy, Mulder. Almost eight years together and it hasn't worked yet," she said

Mulder found that he could not argue; Dr. Peters smiled to himself as he slipped into the back seat.

"Okay, that should do it. This camera is able to withstand temperatures up to 1200 degrees. Only time will tell if that'll be enough," Dr. Peters said as they cautiously made their way back down the mountain.

"How long until we can expect results?" Mulder asked, unable to completely hide the eagerness from his voice.

"I'll leave it up there for a week or so, until then may I suggest taking in the beautiful scenery?" the doctor replied, Mulder said nothing, but his expression of boyish disappointment in wake of the long wait was easily readable.


"Mulder, when Dr. Peters said 'take in the sights' I don't think this is what he meant," Scully said as she entered Mulder's hotel room to find him out on the balcony with a pair of binoculars fixed on the mouth of the volcano.

He didn't answer her and he didn't so much as bat an eyelash when his hotel phone began to ring, so Scully picked it up instead. "Agent Scully? I've got the video feed back; you and your partner are going to want to get down here," Dr Peters said excitedly over the phone.


"Watch this," Dr. Peters said as he went frame by frame, both Mulder and Scully recoiled in shock.

"It... it appears to be some kind of bird!" Scully said, disbelievingly.

"Not just any bird," Mulder said as he returned to her side with a vintage-looking book that was open about half way.

"But this is a phoenix, a mythical bird; hints why it's in a book of mythology," Scully said flatly.

"It says here that the phoenix is the symbol of strength, protection and eternal life and that it lives at the center of the earth. Hey, dragons are listed in here too, you know," Mulder said with a cheeky grin as he studied Scully's reluctant expression.


"So, do you think we did the right thing in letting Dr. Peters fabricate lie that it the tremors and such were due to the shifting of tectonic plates offshore?" Scully said as she studied the imposing mountain from her window as they made their way to the airport.

"I think it's better this way, if people knew it would be like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. People would pursue it and you and I both know what would happen if it were ever captured. It's better that people go on being none the wiser, it's better for both beast and mankind," he replied.

"So, what was the point of coming here?" Scully asked as they walked into the airport.

"To find out the truth, plus did you really think I would turn down a stint in paradise on the FBI's tab?" He added, with a wry, playful smile.


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