Title: Formerly Blair Author: Cornflake Girl Rating: PG. Unless you got *really* creeped out by Blair Witch Project Spoilers: The Blair Witch Project, a little quote from The Green Mile books Keywords: X-Files/Blair Witch Project crossover (naw, ya thought?). Maybe an X-File Summary: Mulder and Scully go looking for the three college students who disappeared in 1994. Disclaimer: The X-Files, Mulder, and Scully belong to Chris Carter, 20th Century Fox, David, and Gillian. The Blair Witch Project belongs to Haxan Films, Artisan Entertainment, Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Joshua Leonard, who ARE NOT DEAD. I loved your movie, guys, please don't sue me. You, either, Fox. I only have about eleven bucks, and that's gonna get me and my mom in to see The Talented Mr. Ripley. Author's Notes: This is my XF/Blair Witch offering. I loved the movie, seriously, I did. Big humongous thanks to Megan who wrote "Burkittsville," which kicked major ass. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The screams emanated from the small basement office. A girl was shrieking, and Mulder seemed totally engrossed in what he was watching. He jumped when he saw Scully standing in the doorway. She raised an eyebrow. "Another one of those videos I'm not supposed to know you own?" she asked. Mulder smiled and shook his head, then inclined it toward the wall, where a large poster declared that three Maryland college students were missing in the woods outside the town of Burkittsville. "1994?" Scully asked. "Rather old case, isn't it?" "Well, this tape was found and put together, and I was notified. They want us to go to Burkittsville tomorrow," Mulder replied. Scully closed her eyes and sighed. "At least it's close to home," she said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They drove for what seemed like forever. Scully sat in silence, often blacking out for periods of about ten minutes. It was as if someone were tinkering with her brain; turning sections on and off. "We're here, Scully," Mulder announced. She lifted her head to look at him. He was staring at her with a puzzled expression. "Were you going to sit in the car all day?" he asked. She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "What?" "You've just been sitting here for over ten minutes. Is something wrong?" he questioned. "I'm fine," she said, and her mind reeled. *ten minutes?* she thought. Shaking her head, she opened the car door and stepped onto the hard asphalt of a parking lot. The world spun around her and she nearly fell down. Scully squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers to her temples. "Are you okay, Scully?" Mulder asked, coming up behind her and placing his hand on the small of her back. "Yeah, I think so. Just a head rush from getting up so fast," she replied. Mulder nodded and guided her to the front door of the sheriff's office. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We're glad you could be here," the sheriff began. "Case has been closed for some time, but it was reopened upon the discovery of what the film cans contained. I assume you watched the film?" he asked the pair. "I did," Mulder said, "Agent Scully was unable to, but I told her the story while we were coming here." "Good," the sheriff said, "then I suppose you're ready to go out there and begin your investigation?" "Actually," Scully said, "I'd like to ask some questions as to what exactly of the students' things were found." "Of course," the sheriff said. "We found the film cans inside the girl's backpack, her journal, and that was it." Scully nodded, though she was not completely satisfied. "Let's go," Mulder said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After checking into a small motel and changing clothes, Mulder and Scully headed toward the spot the sheriff had marked on a map. "We're taking approximately the same route the kids did," Mulder informed his partner. "We'll trace the route through the woods, spend two nights there, then come back and interview friends and family. Scully regarded him solemnly. "Couldn't we get transcripts of interviews already conducted? I doubt the families of those three wish to be reminded again of their loss," she said. "Okay," Mulder said. They parked and got out of the car. From the trunk, they retrieved their packs. Mulder's contained all the camping supplies, while Scully's held clothes and food. Though hers was considerably lighter, Scully felt overwhelmed by its weight. *Come on, Dana, you're strong, you can do this* she thought. Aloud, she said, "'They're still in there. I can hear them screaming." Mulder turned and stared at her. "When did you have time to read The Green Mile?" he asked, a small smile on his lips. "I do lots of things you don't know about," she replied. Mulder laughed. "Let's go," he said, tilting his head towards the trees. (end part one) Subject: NEW: Formerly Blair (2/4) "Coffin Rock," Scully said solemnly. The creek ran past a rock that was practically an island; it sat there, large and silent. "Five men were found here. Tied together and disemboweled." Mulder stared at her. "I didn't come completely in the dark. I did a little research before we left," she said with a small shrug. Mulder pursed his lips and chewed on the inside of his cheek, his eyes scanning the trees and bushes. Scratches on one of the trees caught his attention. Stepping forward, he saw clearly the names carved into the tree. HEATHER MICHAEL AND JOSH OCTOBER 94 WE WERE HERE Silently, Mulder pointed the tree out to Scully. She was equally silent as she read it, then sighed, closed her eyes, and swayed as though she were dizzy. When she tried to open her eyes, a wave of nausea overcame her, and the woods split in two. Images danced in front of her, then dissolved into a spinning, colored mass. "Scully? Scully, are you okay?" she heard him say faintly. In the ringing of her ears, she heard children laughing. Then her vision cleared, and the sick feeling disappeared. Scully turned and bolted from the tree and Coffin Rock. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The chirping of the crickets and the hooting of an owl were their only accompaniment as they huddled inside the tent. Scully rubbed her arms and shivered. The fire they had built outside had burned to nothing, and now the extreme coldness of the night penetrated her to the bone. Something outside laughed. Scully's ears pricked up. It *couldn't* be someone laughing. It was...a deer, maybe. "Did you hear that?" Mulder asked, "that laughing?" Scully nodded. "It might not have been laughing. Maybe it was...I dunno, maybe a bird whose call sounds like laughing," she offered. Unconvinced, but unwilling to argue with her, Mulder scrunched himself against the side of the tent and fell asleep. Scully now felt utterly alone. As she curled up and drifted to sleep, she thought she heard her name whispered on the wind. "dana. dana, it's all right, don't be frightened..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scully woke the next morning to the sounds of someone cooking. She couldn't smell anything, but her stomach rumbled, anticipating breakfast's taste. She unzipped the tent and blinked against the glaring morning sun. Mulder saw her and grinned. "Morning, Sunshine. Finally decide to wake up today?" Scully smiled back. "I slept like a rock. I have no idea what time it is," she said. "11 AM." Scully was shocked. "Eleven? Already? I've never been able to sleep so late. Feels good." Mulder shrugged and stirred the bacon that was frying in the pan. "Breakfast is almost ready. Bacon, eggs, and coffee," he said, gesturing to another skillet and a coffee pot sitting near the fire. Nodding, Scully looked around her, enjoying the feel of a vacation while on a case. "aren't my woods beautiful?" someone said. Scully whirled around and thought she saw a woman standing against a tree. She blinked, and now it was certain no one was there. The smell of cooked bacon was overpowering. She turned and grabbed a few strips from the plate Mulder held in front of her. "Coffee?" he asked, offering her a Styrofoam cup. Wordlessly, she took it and gulped it down. The hot liquid scalded her throat, and she swallowed some of her own saliva to cool it, making a bitter face. She stalked over to the tent and began to tear it down. Mulder watched her incredulously as she violently pulled the tarp from the metal poles. She burrowed into the tarp pile and snatched the two sleeping bags from it. Trying to zip the bags and roll them up, she fumbled, and the material fell out of her hands and into her lap. For the first time in a long time, Scully began to cry uncontrollably. (end part two) Subject: NEW: Formerly Blair (3/4) Forty-five minutes later, Scully had finished packing things up and had composed herself. Her mouth was now set in a line, and her eyes held no expression. She carried the heavier of the two backpacks they'd brought, feeling guilty for her outpouring of emotion. Mulder had insisted that he carry the heavy pack, but she'd refused. Now they knew exactly where they needed to go. "We should come to a small graveyard soon," Mulder announced. They walked for another hour, then Mulder heard Scully yell from a few yards ahead. "Mulder! Come look at this!" He ran up to where Scully stood. "I counted them. Ten altogether," she said. Piles of rocks were painstakingly arranged on the forest floor. "Do you suppose this is the graveyard?" Scully asked. "I'd think so. Ten rock piles. Seven for the kids that were killed in the '40s..." Neither of them voiced what they thought the remaining piles stood for, though it seemed obvious. Carefully, they stepped over the rocks, trying not to disturb them. A clattering sound came to Scully's ears, and she looked down under her feet. One of the taller piles lay ruined under her heel. "Damn," she muttered. A cold, unnatural feeling pooled in her stomach and spread in her blood. She vaguely heard laughter. She was barely aware that she was walking now, away from the ten piles. The trees flashed past her, and she realized she was running. Then as if in slow motion, she fell. Twisting her body, she landed solidly on the pack strapped to her back. She lay perfectly still on the dirt and looked up at the sky. Smiling, she closed her eyes and sank into a dream. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was much too dark in there. She heard the shrieks of her best friend, Lizzie. Tears were streaming down her face as she began to pray. "Dear Lord, help us. He's killing Lizzie, and he'll kill me next. Bless Momma and Daddy, and tell my little sister Sally to be a good girl, and don't let anybody worry too much. Amen." She heard Lizzie's strangled voice say her name and fall silent. She shook when she heard the *thud* of her friend's body hitting the pile of other bodies this man had thrown there. She screamed when she felt the man's large hand grab her shoulder, pulling her out of the corner and towards a large wooden workbench. She saw a pale, white figure hovering near the bench. She knew it was a woman, and stretched out her hand to touch her. But the man was hoisting her body onto the bench and tying her down. There was a gleaming knife in his hand, and as it touched her stomach, she fainted, "I'm finally finished." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scully tried to open her eyes. Then she realized that they *were* open. It was night now, and she was still lying on the ground, outside, in the woods. "dana. dana, come here, i won't hurt you," an echoey voice called. Scully stood and slowly walked through the trees until she found where the call was coming from. An old, tumbledown house stood in front of her, and Scully was nearly certain she saw a ghostly female figure standing on the front step, arms spread as if in welcome. The figure disappeared, but Scully heard the echoey voice again. "come in, dana. it's nice here. i won't harm you." Blindly, Scully went into the house, following the voice. She heard children giggling and calling for her. She smiled and followed the calls through rooms, rooms that were old and falling apart, but Scully saw them as beautiful and finely furnished. A little girl came up to her, grabbing her hands and spinning. Scully laughed and disengaged her hands, then flung her arms out to her sides and kept spinning. Children gathered around her and smiled, shrieking with their childish laughter. They grabbed Scully's arms and pulled her towards a door in a far wall. Scully put her full trust in these children as they led her downstairs, saying, "We play down here, too." As they descended the stairs, the house began to look more sinister. The beautiful white walls gave way to dirty, cracked, cobweb-covered walls. Scully began to grow uneasy as the house's interior deteriorated with each downward step. She heard the slow sliding of metal on stone; something was being sharpened. Scully stiffened and her heart stopped when she heard screaming and saw two of the children snatched from the group. A male figure pushed one of the children into a corner of the room and tied the other to a bench. He saw the open door where Scully and six children were peering in. He approached it, and before he slammed it shut, he growled, "Wait your turn." Then they were left in darkness. The door reopened, and two more children taken. In the brief light, she saw a boy run upstairs and out of the house, but he was the only one to escape. When the man came back and discovered the boy gone, he grabbed Scully's shoulders and demanded to know where he was. After he realized questioning Scully was futile, he yanked her into the basement. The bodies of seven children were stacked against a wall, holes in their abdomens. She tried to step back, afraid, but the man pushed her forward. He shoved her onto a blood-covered workbench, then watched her as he sharpened a knife. He picked up a long, bloody piece of rope and tied her to the workbench, making sure the rope was tight. The man pushed her shirt up, exposing her stomach. Scully struggled against the rope and gasped when a pale woman stepped from the shadows and placed a firm hand on her forehead. Scully stopped struggling and stared into the woman's eyes. They were cold and hard and seemed to peer into Scully's soul. She took her hand away and looked at the man who stood patiently holding his knife. As he stepped forward, the woman disappeared. Unemotionally, the man lifted the knife and touched it to Scully's stomach. (end part three) Subject: Formerly Blair (4/4) Scully screamed and punched the air, trying to fend off her attacker. "Scully! Scully, it's just me, calm down. Calm down." Slowly, Scully opened her eyes. She looked down at her stomach and saw Mulder's hand there. His index finger rested on the bare skin of her stomach. "God, Mulder, your hands are like ice," she said, taking his hand from her stomach and pulling her shirt down over it. "It's freezing out here at night and in the morning," he explained. Then, quietly, "Do you know what happened, Scully?" "Bad dream," she mumbled." "And it spanned an afternoon and a night?" "What?" "It's 10:30 AM. We still have more hiking to do," he reminded her. "Then let's go," Scully said, rising and brushing herself off. She looked behind her and stopped what she was doing. "Where are the rock piles?" Mulder looked slightly embarrassed. "I-uh, I carried you for about half a mile after you passed out. We left the rocks a while ago." Scully smiled and the two began their hike again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Night had fallen. It had turned deadly cold, and both Mulder and Scully shivered. "Oh, look," Mulder whispered, pointing. An old, tumbledown house stood before them. Its windows here boarded up, the exterior walls were dirty and cracked, and the stairs leading to the front door were dirty and crumbling. "Let's go see," Mulder said, inclining his head and jogging toward the house. "No," Scully whispered, realization slugging her. Children giggled and small hands pushed her in the direction her partner had gone. Mulder stood in the house's doorway, beckoning. "C'mon, it's just an empty house," he said and disappeared into the front room. Scully felt sick and tried to keep him from going any further, but she couldn't reach him. With small, quick steps she reached his side and grabbed his arm. "Stop, please, we can't go in here, Mulder!" she whispered desperately. "It's just a house," he replied. Scully gripped his arm and heard the children again, giggling and whispering. The house was dead quiet as the two agents' feet clunked along the floor. "This is an amazing place." Mulder murmured, looking around himself. "Let's split up and look some more." Scully shook her head violently. "No, Mulder, Mulder, you can't leave me alone in here!" she gasped hysterically. "Okay, okay, I promise I won't leave you. This house is really getting to you, isn't it?" Mulder asked. Scully gulped and nodded. "Don't worry about anything. I won't let anything hurt you," Mulder reassured his partner. *Anything is right,* Scully thought. The house, which had been dark to begin with, now got steadily darker. "No, not now, don't do this to me now!" Scully's body screamed. But her mind paid no heed and Scully descended again into darkness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ She came out of the dark some time later and found herself standing in the very spot where her blackout had occurred. And Mulder was gone. To give herself courage, she spoke aloud. "You left me, Mulder, and I told you not to. ow i have to find you...in this house...where people have died...oh God!" she cried. Courage gone, Scully tore down the halls searching for her missing partner. She tried not to think of the obvious place he was, but a voice said, "For all you know, they could have killed him already!" "No, he's not dead, he would never do that to me," Scully replied aloud. Had anyone tangible been watching her, they would have believed her to be mad. And now, maybe she was. Scared and alone, she went towards the door that led to the basement. Trying to swallow her fear and push the memories of her dream away, she crept down the stairs, feeling the air get colder and colder. Then Scully reached the open space of the basement. And screamed. Mulder was there, but he wasn't looking at her. He was against the far wall, facing it, and was deaf to Scully's screams and pleas for him to turn around. Rough hands grabbed Scully's shoulders and the world went black for the last time. THE END (hahahaha! If you want a nice, happy ending, read the epilogue. If you'd rather keep it as a character death situation, don't. See? I'm giving you multiple endings here! Aren't I nice?) --Cornflake Girl ------------ President of the Luke Wilson, Bruce Harwood, and Eric McCormack Are Damn-Good-Looking Men Society "I object to all this sex on the television. I keep falling off." ------------ Visit my website, home to my X-Files episode reviews and general insanity, at: http://community.webtv.net/LoneGungirl/YeahWhatever From LoneGungirl@webtv.net Sun Jan 23 14:46:11 2000 Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2000 21:36:45 -0800 (PST) From: Cornflake Girl Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Formerly Blair (Epilogue) NOTE: Read this only if you want a nice, semi-wrapped-up ending, instead of the conclusion of Part 4. Slowly, Scully opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. A damp basement with a dirt floor was all. No bodies, no murderous men with knives, ghostly women, or laughing children. But there had been. She'd seen and heard them. Now she was in the fetal position on the dirt, with Mulder not far away. Scully got up, crawled over to him, and shook his shoulder. "Mulder. Mulder, wake up," she said softly. His eyes flashed open. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Yeah, fine. Are we still in the house?" "Yes." "Then let's get the hell out." Silently agreeing, Scully stood and helped Mulder to his feet. As they ascended the basement steps, Scully took a look back. At the bottom of the stairs, a group of people watched. Seven young children smiled and waved at Scully, while three much older people--two boys, one girl--stood behind the children, just watching Scully. Slowly, and like smoke, the figures disappeared. Scully turned and caught up with Mulder at the top of the stairs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "They're all right!" The cry of relief sounded throughout when search teams ran into the agents. According to the teams, Mulder and Scully had been gone for five days, much longer than the expected two. Billions of questions arose, but it wasn't until they returned to Burkittsville that they explained what they found. In Scully's field report, she wrote: "Judging from my own experiences in the Burkittsville woods, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams were toyed with and finally murdered by a man who is now dead himself, and that man may have had an accomplice in his crimes. There may be a copycat killer in the woods somewhere, and caution should be exercised if one should venture into the Burkittsville woods." (end epilogue) --Cornflake Girl ------------ President of the Luke Wilson, Bruce Harwood, and Eric McCormack Are Damn-Good-Looking Men Society "I object to all this sex on the television. I keep falling off." ------------ Visit my website, home to my X-Files episode reviews and general insanity, at: http://community.webtv.net/LoneGungirl/YeahWhatever