From: amartin10@juno.com (Ann M Martin)
--------

FANFIC CHALLENGE: NEXT LIFE
Title:   Long Day's Night   by Ann Martin
Content: set infuture, next life story.
Summary: Scully and Mulder find themselves caught up in a dangerous
situation, but they aren't what they seem.
Disclaimer: If I owned this, it would make me Chris Carter, and as you
can clearly see, my name is Ann Martin.
The beautiful song in here is Garth Brooks'. I'm not him, either.

Scully walked slowly along the street. It was dark and rainy in this
section of D.C., where she knew she shouldn't be. Years of experience had
told her where was safe and where wasn't.

She stepped gingerly into the MagLev station. She looked around, through
the rain, at all the people standing there, waiting for the train to
come. D.C. was a dismal place to live. There had been rumors in her
circles that the Dominants had overthrown their leader, had taken their
country and world and thrown it into chaos. It was dangerous enough, her
life, Scully thought, but these people, with their fancy homes and cars
and servants lived in constant fear that it would all disappear.

She felt him behind her, and turned. Pendrell was well known, and he was
dangerous. His orange hair had white streaks running through it, now that
he was older. He had power and he lorded it over the others. But he liked
Scully, and she was safe with him, no matter how dark or rainy it got. 

Pendrell beckoned for her to follow him, and she obeyed-- constantly
trying to stay on his good side. They walked down an alley and he led her
through a small door.  She saw many of her friends there, many of the
ones she feared, and others she didn't know. They all moved over for
Pendrell and the beautiful lady he had with him. There was food and
warmth.

Scully knew where the food came from. The one across the circle from her,
with his hair hanging in his face. He was the beggar of the group; nobody
could say no to him. He had his tricks, and he always brought dinner for
the group. Scully hadn't eaten a real meal for days, and was grateful to
him.  These days, there were fewer and fewer scraps to be found, because
people were starting to use everything they had.

After the meal was done and stories of the day had been shared around the
group, Scully walked over to thank the beggar. She had never bothered to
learn his name. Everyone told her she was hgiher than him, she was of
good breeding and out of a good home, but they were all in the same boat
now, weren't they?

He looked up at her with sad, sad eyes, and she couldn't tell if the pain
in them was real or ever-present.

"Hello..." she said, trying to think of what to say. It was hard to speak
to anybody about what had happened. There was destruction everywhere, the
town was wrecked, and stories came from other nearby towns that it was
spreading.

He tried to think of something to say, but all he could come up with was,
"You're Pendrell's, aren't you?"

Scully seemed taken aback. "I'm my own."

He shook his head. "No, *I'M* my own. You have him watching over you,
protecting you, keeping you from being hurt."

Scully smiled on him, and told him he was also wrong. "It's not really
living, is it?"

Strains of a song poured out of the windows above.

"_We call them cool,
The ones who have no scars to show,
The ones that never do let go,
And risk the tables being turned.

We call them weak
Who are unable to resist
The slightest chance love might exist,
And for that forsake it all._"

"That's how you feel, isn't it, Scully?"

"How do you know my name?"

He shrugged. "I'm Mulder. I kinda patrol the city. I know what's going on
in every corner in this town."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow. "You remind me of someone, I just can't put
my finger on it. What's going on in my corner?"

"Not much," he said, standing up.

She followed him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you remind me of someone I know, too. Standing outside the
fire. Pendrell-- you don't love him, do you?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to....?"

Mulder looked at her. "He hopes you do. *He* does. C'mon, I'll walk you
home."

They walked through the rain, talking. He seemed to know her very well,
and he understood her. Talking to him, telling him every detail about her
life, felt real and complete. She couldn't recall where she knew him
from, but he wasn't like this. He had hopes, and he wasn't just waiting
around for something big to happen. But the way he looked at her was the
same. It was the stare of somebody who was shedding their pain.

Mulder knew he had seen this beauty before. Eyes like that should have
stuck better in his memory. He couldn't recall a time in his life when he
had felt this way. Theirs felt like a complete partnership, and he
thought he could probably tell her anything. But there was nothing *to*
tell her. He felt like he should turn to her and help her and make their
lives all better. But his life was only full of the pain of having and
having lost: the perfect life. He'd been content before the falling, and
now he had nothing.

But his former life had never felt like this.

*******
Morning broke with brilliant sunshine. Scully's red locks glistened in
the morning sun. But everywhere she looked there was a dewey, blackened
trail of death. 

She stepped outside her small corner. He was still there, waiting for
her, as Pendrell rounded the corner.

"What's *he* doing here?" he asked her.

"Sleeping."

"Don't get fresh with me, Miss Scully. Because I don't recall you having
a good meal, a place to stay that didn't depend on me in a long time."

"He just walked me back... he must've gotten tired."

Pendrell nudged the softly sleeping Mulder. "Pendrell--let him sleep. He
walked me home..."

"I coulda done that, if ya couldn't handle it yourself."

"All he did was *walk*, Pendrell."

"Are you sure? I don't like sharing, Scully..."

Mulder faced him. Neither had noticed him get up.

"She's not yours, Pendrell. She's not mine or yours or those stupid
idiots who turned her out of her home, to go to you. She's just Dana, and
that's--"

"Dana?" Scully asked him.

But before he could answer, Pendrell was on top of him, wrestling him to
the ground and tearing him to pieces. A young boy wandering down the
street, yelled, "Dog fight!"

People rushed out of their houses, the remains of a beautiful town. A
young man stepped forward and pried them apart, carrying off Pendrell.
"He's a good fighter. I could use him," he explained.

Scully walked over to Mulder. 

"You look terrible, Fox."

"Wonder why... ahhh," he winced in pain.

******
They walked off, later, back to her small corner in a wrecked city.

There had been something missing from their lives, something they
couldn't ever get back. 

But now they were Fox Mulder and Dana Scully again-- just a couple of
strays.


********************
The end!
Sorry for putting you through this pain...

Ann                      "Bother," said Pooh, as Mulder and Scully rushed
in, guns drawn.         "We're hackers-- this is what we live for!"
-Lucas W
**My name is Dana Scully. You ate my dog. Prepare to die. **My name is
Fox Mulder. You took my sister. Prepare to die.** My name is Walter
Skinner. You took my hair. Prepare to die.
Kathie Lee says, "Faster-- Cody wants a pony." -- Craig Kilborn