In the Light of the Frozen Moon (7/?)
by Decoyly

Disclaimer: Mulder, Scully aren't mine, they belong to CC 
and Co.Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended! 

Feedback:  decoyly@gmail.com

Rating: PG

Classification: MSR

Summary: Started out in response to DD's comment that Mulder 
takes off his shirt in the new movie (see part one), but has since
become it's own non-movie related WIP. :D Hope you enjoy it!


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The sky was falling.  At least that's what it felt like.  

"Scully?" Mulder couldn't see his own hand in front of his face, 
much less his partner.  The entire room was now filled with 
swirling snow and broken glass.  The roar of the wind grew to 
an unnaturally loud howl, and Mulder called for his partner again. 
 "Scully!"

He managed to get to his feet, and by sheer luck his hand hit 
against hers.  

"Mulder?" 

More than a little relieved, Mulder grabbed hold of Scully, 
knowing it would be all too easy to lose her again in the escalating 
chaos. 

"You okay?" He had to shout over all the noise.  

He thought he heard her shout a yes and then, "You?"

As far as he could tell he was.  But then again he was so cold he 
probably wouldn't have been able to tell otherwise.  All Mulder 
knew was that they had to get out of the shed before the entire 
thing collapsed and killed them both.  

"What's that noise?" Scully shouted, making her way over unseen 
debris to reach his side. 

"I don't know--" Whatever it was, it was getting louder and angrier, 
eating away the rest of his words. 

"Mulder we--" Scully's sentence was lost to the deafening rumble of 
crumbling wood and breaking concrete.  

The foosball table knocked into him and Mulder instinctively yanked 
Scully towards him, shielding her as best he could as the floor 
disappeared beneath their feet.  There was nothing either of them 
could do but hang on as the shed collapsed, funneling them towards 
the gaping hole in the center.  

So much for taking the safe search route.

~*~*~

For a long moment Scully could only lay there trying to catch 
her breath.  She could feel Mulder doing the same on top of her.  
After the floor had given out, they'd fallen through some sort of 
underground tunnel, making Scully feel like Alice falling through 
the rabbit hole.  Plastic tubs, foosball players, snow, and shed 
scattered down with them in a whirlwind of confusion.  

By the time they finally hit the floor, Mulder took the brunt of 
the fall, arms still wrapped tightly around her as he rolled them 
over and out of the way of the falling snow blower.  It landed 
with a painful clang of metal hitting metal.

After all that noise, the sudden silence was unnerving.  Scully 
felt like she'd fallen off the face of the Earth and landed in a 
black hole.  Noteven the wind could be heard down here.  

Mulder finally lifted off her, grunting as he sat up.  "You alright 
Scully?"

She sat up too, wincing a little, but otherwise fine.  "I think 
so."  She could feel him moving around and asked, 
"Mulder?"

"I'm fine."

"Let me take a look at it."

~*~*~

He should have known even in pitch black darkness he couldn't 
hideanything from Scully.  He didn't know how she was going to 
take a look at anything when he couldn't even see her, but Mulder 
knew better than to argue. 

He shifted his leg towards her, biting his lip at the sting of 
pain that shot up his calf.  "It's nothing really."

Scully's hands found the glass in his leg and even in the dark 
he could see her eyebrow rising.  "Nothing?"  She gently 
prodded around the wound, trying to feel her way around 
her diagnosis and Mulder held his breath.  Okay, so it hurt 
a little more than he thought, but it still couldn't be that bad,
right?

Scully's hands left his leg and he could hear her taking off 
her coat.  "Mulder hang on."

"Scully it's too cold in here, you'll freeze," he told her, knowing 
what she was about to do.  He quickly took off his jacket and his 
own sweater, handing it over.  "Take mine."

He could tell she wanted to argue, but knew he was right.  Taking 
his offered sweater, Scully said, "Hand me your belt."

He tugged it off, handing it over and wincing at the thought of 
what came next.  

Even in the dark they worked together flawlessly.  He didn't need 
tosee his partner to trust that she knew exactly what she was doing, 
and she didn't need to sugar coat what was about to hurt. A lot.  
Scully grabbed either side of his jeans around the large shard of 
embedded glass, and Mulder gritted his teeth, anticipating the 
inevitable.

~*~*~

Scully worked quickly, carefully pulling out the shard of glass and 
wrapping Mulder's sweater around the wound.  She used his belt 
to secure it firmly against the flow of blood, thankful that it 
hadn't severed an artery.  

"All in a day's work," Mulder mumbled, bending his leg to check 
his leg himself.

"At least it wasn't the snow blower," Scully answered, handing over 
the piece of glass as large as her hand.

~*~*~

*Or you,* Mulder thought.  He'd gladly take a bullet for Scully any
day, one little piece of glass was nothing. 

Mulder tossed the piece of glass far enough away that they 
wouldn't run into it again and squinted around at their 
surroundings.  His eyes were starting to get adjusted to 
the dark, but aside from Scully's outline he could see 
nothing but misshapen lumps of debris that had taken the 
fall with them.  His eyes fell on the broken foosball table 
and he let out a sad noise.  He was looking forward to 
trying it out.

"Seems like we fell into some underground tunnel," Scully said, 
studying their surroundings as well.

"Is it kind of hot in here to you?" Mulder asked, suddenly realizing 
that he was more than a little warm.  

"It does seem unusually warm."  Scully helped Mulder to his feet 
and he took off is coat. 

They both glanced up at the ceiling, at the gaping hole stretching 
further than they could see in this light.  Despite the fact that 
they should have been able to see swirling snow above, all 
Mulder could see was darkness.  

"You think we fell as far as it felt?"

"Maybe even further," Scully answered, turning in a circle to 
stare at the cavernous room.

Mulder tapped his good leg against the floor.  "Metal."  Clearly 
whatever they were standing in wasn't a naturally occurring cave.  
Was it manmade?  Or something else?  

Scully began walking towards one of the walls and Mulder 
followed, not wanting to lose sight of her.  She must have 
caught sight of something, because she made a sharp left and 
began heading towards the broken snow blower.

Mulder followed.  She stepped passed the snow blower and
kept going, and Mulder wondered where she was going.  
Suddenly Scully stopped and Mulder made it to her side, finally 
seeing what she was looking at.

Scully turned to look at him.  "Mulder, where are we?"

~*~*~

She was looking down a dark tunnel that seemed to go on forever.  
Scully immediately thought 'Moth  Men'.  A glint of light caught her 
eye again and she remembered whathad drawn her attention in the
first place.

"Looks like a whole series of underground tunnels," Mulder said, 
following her towards a huge metal door a few yards in.  Scully had 
the distinct impression that they were on the other side of a large 
vault.  At least that's what the door reminded her of.  Whoever 
had built it clearly didn't want anyone coming in.  Or getting out.

Scully traced her fingers lightly over the strange carving in the 
door.  The metal glowed brighter at her touch, giving off a slight 
warmth as it illuminated their strange surroundings.

"It's a key," Mulder said suddenly.  Scully watched him hobble 
back to his coat and pick it up.  He rustled through the pockets 
a second then came back carrying the two artifacts from before.  
"They started to warm up just before the floor gave out," he 
explained.  "See?"

Mulder handed over the stones and Scully stared at them.  Not 
only were they growing warmer by the second, the symbols were 
growing lighter in a pulsating glow.  Suddenly, as if an invisible 
hand had reached out and snatched them away, the locked 
artifacts flew across the empty space to the door, locking 
perfectly into place.

"More magnets--" Scully was cut off as Mulder tackled her and a 
bright burst of light exploded from the metal door.  With a 
tremendous *shink* and clank of metal, the door unlocked.  

As quickly as it had appeared, the light was gone.

Mulder and Scully stared at the heavy door as it slowly swung 
open, revealing another long tunnel.  This one looked like it had
been carved out of the surrounding rock.  The only thing metal 
now was two long tracks leading up to the door.  They looked 
like a futuristic version of old mining tracks, smoother and 
rounder.  

Scully looked at Mulder.  What now?  

He grabbed the two artifacts, which had separated and landed 
harmlessly on the floor, and slid them back into his pocket. 
"Looks like someone wants us to follow."

Scully helped him back to his feet.  "Too bad those things 
couldn't light back up."

Right on cue, Mulder jumped, quickly digging the artifacts back 
out of his pocket.  They were glowing again.  Surprised, Mulder
handed a stone over to his partner.  "Ask and ye shall receive 
Scully."

Scully stared at the artifact.  "Any chance you could turn into a 
gun or a way out of here?"  The stone merely glowed back silently.  

"It was a nice try." 

Together they headed down the new tunnel.  

~*~*~

The artifacts didn't give off much light, but it was at least enough 
to keep from tripping over each other or the rails in the floor.  
Scully glanced over at Mulder, who was walking between the 
two metal tracks, brows furrowed slightly, deep in thought.  
What was he thinking about?  She kept quiet, knowing he'd 
tell her when he wanted to.

They walked for another fifteen minutes, and Mulder finally said, 
"I think these tracks are magnetic."

Scully had thought as much.  Knowing there was more to it than 
that, she waited patiently for Mulder to continue.

"When the artifacts attached to the lock some sort of 
electromagnetic signal must have been sent down these tracks, 
through the metal in the door, and to the locking mechanism."  
He looked genuinely intrigued.  "Whoever made this place knew 
what they were doing." 

"The question is, who exactly are we talking about?" 

Mulder nodded.  "It makes you wonder what else these tracks 
are used for.  I mean that's a lot of work to go to just to make 
sure your locks work."

"You think they're transporting something on maglev trains?" 
Scully asked, knowing magnetic levitation was quickly replacing 
conventional trains this day and age.  

Mulder glanced at her as they made their way around a wide 
corner and down another long set of tracks.  "No real need for 
a driver.  One less person to have to keep quiet."

Quiet about what?  Scully didn't know if she wanted to know 
the answer to that question.  They continued on down the tunnel, 
feeling the magnetic tug of the artifacts in their hands.  The 
initial heat of the room they'd fallen into under the shed had 
diminished the further down the tunnel they'd gone.  Scully 
put on her coat, trying not to think about the hundred, if not 
thousands of feet of dirt, snow, and ice overhead.  

"Any thoughts as to where this might lead?" Scully asked just 
to break the eerie silence growing around them as the tunnel 
sloped downward.

"The Mad Hatter's tea party?" Mulder suggested, offering a
 crooked smile.

"Now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind a nice cup of tea," 
Scully answered, stepping carefully over the uneven ground.  At 
least there wasn't any snow.

They tunnel continued to slope slightly downward until it finally 
evened out again in what could only be described as a cavernous 
fork in the road. Or maybe a three-way stop. 

Mulder and Scully stopped in the center of the room where 
the two tracks they had been following suddenly became six 
tracks, all leading to another huge metal door.  

Mulder walked up to the door on the left, fingering the circular 
lock. The symbol on this door did not match the ones on either 
of the artifacts they already had.  He turned back to Scully.  
"Something tells me our luck just ran out."

Before Scully could answer, a low rumble reverberated through 
the walls and floor, growing louder by the second.  Mulder 
stepped back from the doorway to join his partner as she
voiced his own thoughts.  "Maybe.  Maybe not."

~*~*~

Neither of them had any idea what was about to happen, but 
Scully and Mulder both stood ready to run if they had to.  The 
rumbling grew louder and the ground shook them off-balance.  
Mulder grabbed Scully's arm to steady them both as they 
watched the center door suddenly slide open with a whoosh 
of cool air.  

As quickly as it had started, the rumbling stopped.  Scully and 
Mulder exchanged a confused look.  There was no train 
barreling down the tracks, no rocks falling around their heads.  
What had just happened? 

Scully glanced down at the artifact in her hand.  It was no 
longer glowing, and the heat had left it completely.  In fact, 
unless she was imagining it, the stone was getting colder.  

Mulder was frowning at his own stone and then shrugged and 
slipped it into his pocket.  "Guess the batteries ran out." 

Scully slipped the artifact into her pocket and followed Mulder 
through the middle door.  

"Why do I have a feeling that we're walking into a trap?" she
asked, squinting into the dark tunnel.  

Mulder simply grinned.  "Because we probably are."  

Great.  Thanks Mulder, that helps a lot.  They continued to 
walk in silence for a while, only the walls and tracks to lead 
them onward, and Scully began to notice a heaviness pressing 
against her chest.  How far beneath the surface where they?  
She'd never been particularly claustrophobic before, but the 
dark, coupled with the knowledge that they were surrounded 
by tons (literally) of rock and dirt was making it a little hard to 
breathe.  

The pathway began to twist and turn more often, and Scully 
was beginning to think they were going in circles.  At one point 
her hand had reached out for a wall and found nothing but dead 
air.  Thankfully Mulder was close enough to catch her before 
she could fall into yet another pitch black tunnel.  

The tunnels became so confusing that they'd taken to walking 
only a few inches apart just to keep from losing each other.  
Scully could feel Mulder at her back, and was very thankful 
that she wasn't down here alone.  

They came to another tunnel and Scully stopped, gingerly 
tapping her foot into the darkness to make sure there was 
solid ground to continue on.  

"How many different directions you think this goes?" Mulder 
asked, his hand resting against the small of her back as he too 
tested the unseen ground.  

"I don't know, but there's got to be some source of light down 
here," Scully said, moving forward once she was convinced 
that she wouldn't fall off the edge of the earth.  "How else could 
someone maintain such a complicated maze?" 

~*~*~

Mulder suddenly stopped.  Maze?

"Mulder?"

He fingered the artifact in his pocket.  "I was just thinking about
the labyrinth on the artifact." 

"But you said yourself that a labyrinth is one-way. So far we 
know that there are at least three different branches of tunnels 
down here."

True...Still he couldn't help thinking that wherever they were 
going there was only one way in and one way out.  

As they continued to walk, Mulder visualized the layout of the 
forest above.  If he remembered correctly, they were headed in 
the direction of the lake.  He slid his fingers along the rock wall, 
thinking that it felt a little more damp than usual.  

As they passed into what felt like a cave, Scully suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" 

"Do you hear that?" 

"Hear what?" Mulder strained his ears but could hear nothing 
but dead air.  

"I don't know it sounds..." Scully drifted off for a moment, 
listening again.

Suddenly Mulder heard it too and his stomach dropped.  They 
looked at each other and said it at the same time.

"Water."

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