Ladies and Witches

“ I learned to live with it, that's why I say 'if I can walk I'm fine'. ” Though right now she couldn't and it didn't look like she would soon. Her eyes laid on her unconscious body plugged to all the monitoring machines. “ Okay, maybe I'm not fine, but a day or two, some nice painkillers that you sure have and I'll be as good as new, right? ”

She smiled when Scully took the mug. “ Hm, I'm more of an energy drink person, they give a nice kick when you pour an espresso in it. ” Vivi was a detailed observer, but even without it the gentleness between them both was standing out. She had no idea what they've had to be through together, the reason to give up their own son. One thing she realized so far, they weren't ordinary government agents.

Scully's sigh, deliberately loud, got a chuckle in reply, one that could seem like challenge accepted. “ Your scepticism makes me want to drag a dead demon over so you could see with your own eyes. ” Vivi wasn't even sure herself whether it was only a joke, the idea very tempting, just to see the look on Scully's face.

“ Hey, just hear me out for a moment. ” She put the cup on the table, interrupting their affectionate and in a way adorable bickering. This was serious and she needed their attention. “ They don't fucking care about the arsonist. They want me. ” She articulated every word, even the swear one. “ He's a bait. When he dies, they'll infect another mortal with power, then again and again until they lure me out. That's how I ended up like this in the first place, ” she gestured towards the bed, “ it's a fishing rod, the arsonists are bugs on the hook and I'm the fish. ”

As much as she disliked the idea, some of her identity had to be revealed. Vivi couldn't keep them both in the dark completely. “ My name rings a bell in the world of magic, a huge bell.. These demons don't know yet who I am, if they did, they'd start the real hunting games. And not just the ones we met, no, these are everyday demons, I mean demons in power, with positions in the hierarchy. Kill a witch like me and get enormous glory, respect and climb up the ladder to The Source himself. ”

That last thing slipped.

“ Which would put also you, and the mission we have together, in jeopardy. That's why I want to ask you to not reveal my name to anyone. Can never be too cautious. ” A paranoia after Mulder's own heart.

Vivi held out her hand. Her jacket, hanged on by the door fell to the ground when the athame smoothly flew to her, handle landing in her open palm. She pulled it out of its sheath, it's blade decorated with antique runes. “ Like I told you back in the hospital, this athame carries old, black magic. It sucks the power out of whoever dies from it and stores it. It's owner can possess all of it whenever they want, but getting it out is the fun part. ” She smirked. “ I've killed demons with it, it was used to killed witches in the past. It's useless on mortals, unless they have a power. ”

"I hate to say it, but Scully is right," Mulder added. "As cool as this is-- and believe me, it is cool, trust me-- I don't think astral projecting out of your own injured body is the way to deal with all this. If I were you, I'd take whatever advice she gives you because she's always right." He punctuated his point with a smile in Scully's direction, his eyes filled with the memories of a dozen experiences that had proven his point.

"Painkillers aren't going to be enough for this kind of recovery," Scully told her. "They'll help with the pain, but that's it. Everything else...unless you're going to tell me you have the power of super healing or there's some amulet that seals your wounds or you can pass injuries to your astral body--"

"I love when she talks like this," Mulder interjected.

"--this healing is going to take time," Scully finished, not missing a beat despite the interruption.

"And if you're the fish they're trying to bait, isn't that all the more reason to keep your distance while you're recovering?" Mulder asked.

"Let's say I believe all this, and these things are able to infect people with these abilities," Scully began, deciding to speak in hypotheticals in order to keep her sanity. "How are they doing it? How would they choose a victim?" Regardless of any factors, strange or supernatural or otherwise, Scully knew this could be approached like any other case; by identifying a motive, an M.O and a pattern. If they could predict certain elements, they could stop this before it continued.

"The source?" Scully repeated, glancing over at Mulder briefly before looking at Vivienne again. "What's the source?"

Her eyes widened as the dagger flew across the room, not because of the display of telekinesis but because of William. Looking to her partner, she saw Mulder was clearly thinking the same thing, the memories, and the same wonder about where he was now, what was happening to him.

And it caused a question to burn in Scully's mind suddenly; there had never been any true definition as to what her son was. She had been told so many different things by so many different people and no one ever really had the answers she had so desperately searched for. What if William was like Vivienne?

"How do you do that?" She asked, the information about the dagger going far to the back of her mind in favour of something much more personal. "Call the dagger to you."

For someone who wanted to be left alone, Vivi stayed surprisingly close to them at the store. In the snacks aisle, Mulder was just excited as she was, neither of them could make up their mind in front of various choices.

Finally deciding on a box of cereals that she'll probably eat dry straight from the box, a pack of gummy worms and a can of energy drink, the girl made her way back to Scully and Mulder. What Vivi wouldn't predict in any wildest guess was what would happen next.

Putting the stuff in the basket, her ear caught a familiar voice, a voice that she'd recognize in a crowd, but one that she hasn't heard in months… and wasn't supposed to hear in this time. Her hear rate skyrocketed realizing there was also a second voice. Vivi's head snapped up momentarily, recognizing the familiar figure. A few aisles away stood a dark haired woman with a blonde baby in the shopping cart seat. She was speaking, but not to the baby.. to another woman coming up to them with a few boxes of biscuits.

“ Do we really need all that? ”

“ Last time you bought the wrong ones, so yes we do. ” The woman replied, putting them all in the cart, revealing her not that tiny baby bump.

Vivi's heart sunk, she locked eyes on the woman, unable to blink, to move, to not wake up from this dream she was having.. it had to be a dream.

No it wasn't. Prue was walking, breathing, living right in front of her wide eyes. As if nothing ever happened - as if nothing will happen. Vivi feared that if she moved, this image would pop like a bubble.

Water began welling in her eyes and fell before Vivi could hurriedly wipe it away. She felt an overwhelming urge to just run to her, to talk, to be there.. but Lilia's warnings started ringing in her head, she couldn't come close to her younger self, couldn't risk the universe righting itself, wiping her away before her time.

She had to get out of there before she'd do something stupid, something irreversible or before they see her.

Hastily picking up pace, Vivi directed her steps to the exit; the only way out was near the end of an aisle. The proximity of their magic was enough to connect for a fragile moment in passing, both women raising their heads to look around for the source of this sudden feeling.

“ Prue.. ” Piper trailed off, her eyes following after the girl when the automatic door opened to let her out.

“ I see her. ” She replied, already moving to follow her. Whatever caused this feeling was intriguing and Prue needed to know who that was, was it an innocent who needed help.

"And I know you don't seem to think it now, but it is important we know the whole story, Vivi," Mulder added as he drove. "We want to help you and keep you safe. We can't do either of those things if we don't know the full story. Lilia was right about that. But did you see how many candles that woman had?" He asked, trying to be lighthearted as he looked at Scully.

"I'm surprised that place isn't labelled a fire risk," Scully replied wryly just as they pulled up to the store. Like three people with an individual purpose, they all instinctively split off in the direction of where their own preferences lay with the swiftness of some of their best FBI stake-outs. Maybe the visit to that shop had taken it out of all of them more than any of them had realised.

Picking some candies that she'd found herself having an inexplicable craving for lately, as well as an iced tea, she was just letting herself be drawn in by the front cover story of a trashy magazine when movement caught her eye.

"Vivienne?" She watched the girl stride right past them, an underlying urgency to her pace. Instincts kicking in, Scully dumped her items on the shelf and hurried to follow her, picking up her own pace until she was almost jogging. Seeing a woman ahead of her, following right after Vivienne, Scully changed her jog into a run.

"Hey! Excuse me! Stop!" Scully called out, but the woman didn't stop, didn't even seem to be acknowledging her, and Scully was forced to follow her through the automatic doors, picking up her speed until she was able to overtake the woman, standing right in the path. "FBI!" She shouted, knowing that was usually the best way to make someone stop, but it was only when she came to a stop herself and she finally saw the woman's face, that she realised she recognised her. From a photo. One that was worn and handled and rarely, if ever, left Vivienne's possession.

"Oh my god..."

Mulder turned off the engine of their rental car in motel's parking lot. It was nothing fancy, two level's set of rental rooms, a neon sign by the road. Probably seen better days. “ Maybe we should've made a reservation. ” He commented, taking a look at how full the parking lot was. The next motel was more than 50 miles away and it was already past midnight.

He got out of the car and took both their bags, the case files were safe with Scully, probably the only place it was really safe. “ Hope they'd find something for us. Anything to not get back to the car. ” Wincing at the stiffness in his neck as well as his lower back, Mulder followed his partner to the reception.

The older man behind the desk was napping, leaning back in his chair with an open newspaper resting on his chest. The whole room smelled of his bean burrito that the only thing left was the wrapper on the desk. Mulder glanced back at Scully and put the bags down… then with obvious satisfaction tapped the bell twice, jolting the man awake.

“ What - who? ” He stuttered in shock, pushing the newspaper away. Seeing they were just another clients he calmed a little, smacking his lips. “ What do you want? ”

"Do you wanna tell me what your plan is if they don't have something?" She asked with an amused smirk as she closed the car door, case files in hand. "Because I don't know about you, Mulder, but I think I'd prefer sleeping in a car to a park bench." Especially since the last one they had driven by had been occupied by a homeless guy sleeping off a stupor.

Pausing in the doorway at the smell that assaulted her nose, Scully took a moment, throwing a look at Mulder to convey her thoughts, before making her way to the desk.

"Two rooms? What are you, religious or something?" The man asked, failing to hide his bigotry as much as his smell, or his bad dental hygiene.

"No, we're FBI agents," Scully replied, pulling out her badge. Anything to make this exchange end more quickly. The man immediately sat up a little straighter.

"Well, erm, we might have a bit of a-- we're pretty full tonight. Some local convention. But uh, definitely two rooms?" He didn't wait for answer as he looked through his books. "Well, we have one room that can be two rooms. Family room. Y'know one room for the parents with a door to the small room for the kid? Give 'em privacy. But, uh, just lock the door and you've got yourself two rooms."

"Clever," Scully commented drily, biting back her wry amusement as she cast a brief look at Mulder out of the corner of her eye. "We'll take the room."

“ Spy on him? ” Vivi frowned. She wasn't familiar with the bureau's internal.. policies and tricks, but it did seem like a shady place and this story only assured her in it. Now it made her wonder why two good hearted people like her parents wanted to have anything to do with such shady organization.

“ Are you saying he's not cute? ” Vivi countered with this playful tone and cracked a smile.

“ Is that what you're saying, Scully? ” Mulder played along, turning his head so now both of them were looking at her expectantly.

The thing that continuously made Vivi wonder was that how many years they've been working in the paranormal unit, how many cases they've solved and beings out of this world that they've met through these years, Scully still refused to accept that there were things unexplainable by science. It wasn't something Vivi was supposed to, or even be able to change. Just accept the way Scully was, perhaps that's why her relationship with Mulder never wavered, because he accepted that from the start.

“ Yes, the crystal. I've seen in a witch's medalion before, it represents transformation, change, connection to spirits. ” She began listing, speaking slowly in thought when it became obvious to her. “ Someone was performing rituals here. Someone who had the means to get this specific, rare crystal all the way from Siberia. ” She hummed, holding out shiny purple rock for them. “ And they forgot to clean up everything. ”

She often wondered what her father would think, after leaving a career in medicine to join the FBI, she had failed to ever be promoted, and instead had been relegated to a department in a basement office that barely had room for a desk. But they fought for the truth, to do the right thing, and to help people; surely her father would be proud of her for that?

"Alright, yes, when we met, I did think he was cute," she admitted, biting back a reluctant grin. It had been one of the first things she'd told her friend at the time; that her new partner could be a bit of a jerk, but he was good looking. "Still cute," she added, the grin becoming a smirk as she looked at Mulder.

"Cuter if I was back in my twenties too," he added, playfully pinching her cheeks. She batted him away with affectionate amusement.

"Mulder, stop that," she protested half-heartedly.

Looking at the crystals, Scully frowned, looking around their immediate environment too for further clues. She had seen what Vivienne could do, the things certain tools could achieve, and she'd seen some of the things that had been used when she'd been dragged along to Lilia's shop. No matter what name any of them put to it-- and Scully was firmly against saying 'witchcraft'-- she couldn't deny there was evidence that these things, used in a certain way, did something.

"What kind of rituals?" she asked.

“ And you were standing…here? Come over. ” He gestured for her to approach.

Vivi knew by now that he wouldn't rest until he tested his theory and the only possibility that Mulder would leave the cave was to let him test it. So she came over and he held her arm.. nothing happened.

“ If you don't mind me asking, m.. ” it felt so odd to call this woman mom now, she didn't look like mom, “ do you really want to reverse it? What's wrong in staying young like this? ”

Initial willingness to stop discussing was keeping up until now. Vivi looked up at Scully and as much as it seemed a funny thought to be turned into a baby, she couldn't stay silent. “ Do you also realize that what you call work, I call daily life? ” She replied, her tone calm but firm. “ You don't need to remind me that this is dangerous, I was born into a family where unexplainable things happen regularly. And we always figured it out. Can you rule out that the reason I wasn't hit was that I'm a witch? ” She asked rhetorically, knowing that Scully didn't like the words like witch or magic being said while trying to explain things.

Ultimately they had to accept that there was nothing more in this cave, nothing to give them any hint and Scully's idea of going back to witnesses accounts was their best shot. 

"Yes, I was actually assigned to the X Files to spy on Mulder at the time, to help shut his department down."

"But then she found out I was too cute," he cut in with amusement.

"What I found out was that there was science to be followed," Scully argued back, giving him a patient look before returning her gaze to Vivi. "I wasn't going to go in and just follow orders that went against the evidence. Our first case together was actually part of a larger story. It led to Mulder's abduction seven years later." A horrendous time and one that still filled Scully with a cold dread. Being pregnant, not knowing if she would see him again, only to find him dead, to bury him, and then for him to be back. It had been so many years now but part of her still hadn't processed it.

"What's wrong with staying like this is this isn't the age I am. Aside from the fact we don't know what side effects there might be, or medical complications, it isn't who I am anymore. The person I was when I looked like this isn't the person I am today." She knew Vivienne was perhaps too young to understand that, to see getting older as anything but a source of aching joints and wrinkles and more vitamins to take int morning, but while Mulder might jokingly complain about time's effects, she didn't think he'd feel comfortable being in his twenties again anymore than she did.

"I don't think a cave is making decisions about who it hits, Vivi," she replied, suspecting the girl was deliberately trying to goad her by bringing witchcraft into all of this. "Most likely it works like a geyser, a particular burst of energy at a specific time." But figuring out those parameters would require the witness statements.

"Charoite?" Scully repeated, walking back over to where Vivienne had found the deposits. "You mean the crystal?"

"Or they say we deserve it," Tannis added. "It' always 'why do you need privacy if you have nothing to hide?' Or talking about how their food is only for their kids."

"No one cares," Mica sighed. "Not teachers or counselors or anyone. They say Tannis is bad because she tries to protect us. So we deserve whatever we get."

"Well, we care," Mulder told them. "And we're listening to you."

Scully agreed, but what to do next was something she wasn't sure her partner had figured out anymore than she had. As FBI agents, they could take the children into their care, but the cycle of paperwork would only trigger re-entry into the system which wouldn't solve the problem.

"We need to get them out here," she concluded aloud.

Thankfully, he didn't mention the topic again. Soon enough, they were in the diner eating breakfast, Mulder eagerly devouring his own stack of pancakes. He was so engrossed in his food that he didn't notice the flyer being placed on the table - not until the sound of Scully's half hidden laughter instantly stole his attention.

He looked up, then down to the flyer. The person who had been handing them out was already gone, Mulder barely catching a glimpse of a back of a head as the figure passed through dinner's door and out of view. Was that suspicious, or were they just in a hurry?

Naturally, Mulder's instincts decided it was suspicious. The whole situation was! With one finger, he turned the flyer on the table so they could both read it.

"Looks like it starts tonight," he commented. "We could expense the tickets."

Skinner wouldn't be pleased, but then, when was he? In the grand scheme of things, a couple of tickets to the movies was far from the worst thing Mulder had ever tried to expense.

"You never know, the local cultist might try to sacrifice us in the middle of it."

Looking over the details of the flyer, Scully saw that it was a typical small town event. Re-using an old building that had since gone out of business, or a neglected area of a park, or even out in a field, were all common settings for these kind of festivals. But seeing that the films would screened in an area that ran beside the corn maze they'd been chased in yesterday set her a little on edge.

"Expense the tickets?" She repeated. "I think even Skinner is going to find it difficult to accept a movie screening as an expense, Mulder." Especially if her partner decided to also add 'scarecrow monsters' into his report.

But she couldn't deny instincts were tugging her there, telling her that it was as worthy of their attention as their planned research at the library.

"Alright, fine," she agreed. "But you can be the one that almost gets sacrificed this time." The memory of her own cult near-miss, how close she had been to cannibalistic execution, wasn't one that was going to fade any time soon.

"But before we do your thing--" She tapped the flyer. "--we're doing my thing. The library and archives should be open by now," she added, checking the time on her watch.

“ Is this really how you looked in your twenties? ” Vivi looked between them both, this woman still looked like Scully, the similarities were obvious, but Vivi couldn't quite connect that she was the same one she knew. “ You're beautiful. And this shade of red suits you much more. ”

They still had no idea what triggered this change, how did the cave do it or why it chose to transform only Scully and leave Vivi untouched.

“ Where were you standing? ” Mulder began looking around the cave. His tone held anxiousness mixed with curiosity. “ Was it here? ” He found a spot with a lot of footsteps and distorted sand, the place the flash of light separated them.. he stood there, as if waiting for anything to happen, to no luck.

“ You done? ” Vivi quirked an eyebrow at him, only the disappointed look on his face held her back from making more fun of it.

Still stubbornly standing there, hands on his hips and expression far from content, Mulder wondered aloud. “ There's the opening in the roof of the cave, the moonlight could be shining inside. ”

"Except you had a lot more pant suits back then," Mulder chimed in from where he was shuffling around.

"How is it that both of you have somehow managed to insult me?" Scully asked, looking between the two of them in challenge. Vivienne might have said she was beautiful, but she'd also thrown in that note about her hair colour. "Mulder, what are you doing? You can't seriously be trying to recreate this effect. What if it happens again but instead it advances your age??" They needed to find out what happened here and, more importantly, they needed to reverse it, but Scully wanted to do that away from the vicinity of the incident, at least until they knew what caused it.

"What do you mean I shouldn't have followed you?" Scully asked, turning to Vivienne, one eyebrow raised. "You shouldn't have come here on your own. I realise you have an interest in our work, but you have to know that what we investigate can be dangerous. What if I hadn't come here and whatever it was that flashed from that cave had hit you instead? We could be taking you home in a baby carrier."

At least in this scenario, Scully was still an adult. She just had a face that no longer matched her driver's license or her FBI badge.

"We need to take a closer look at those witness accounts."

So when Vivi heard of their new case, it was obvious the three of them would be going to Oregon. She was glad her parents finally grew up and realized resistance was pointless. Vivi always tried to behave and not get in the way of their investigation.. okay that was a lie. She didn't go to Oregon to sit in the hotel.

One peek into that cave, nothing's bad gonna happen; she'll take a look around and be back, hopefully with some new info. It was better that she'd go there alone than with them, if anything was to happen. There had to be a source for all these events, anything to hint her into the proper direction. Vivi checked the stone walls of the cave for any hidden portals or symbols, now sitting down, she was searching the bottom of the cave, all for nothing, when she heard Scully's voice.

“ This isn't a lab, nothing's gonna happen until we figure out how to trigger it - ” she was getting up to her feet as Scully joined her when the flash of light turned them both temporarily blind. She could feel Scully's grip on her arm, she held her tight right back until in one second, she slipped away.

“ Mom! ” Vivi called out, she'd use her magic, protect them from all of this if she only saw anything. In a second, the light was gone and she spotted Scully just a short distance away. Immediately dashing forward, she heard someone running to them, didn't need to be psychic to know who it was.

“ Scullaaay! ”

The sight in front of her eyes was something neither of them could be prepared for. Scully wasn't hurt, she looked okay, she looked, “ You've got b-bangs.. ” Vivi stuttered, her mouth agape. It was Scully no doubts, right?

Except she didn't feel bruised. She felt winded, yes, but otherwise...she felt like she'd taken a dozen vitamins and had about twenty hours of sleep.

"We're here, Mulder!" she called out, and again noticed how high her voice sounded. Clearing her throat again, she looked at Vivienne. "Bangs?" she repeated, frowning a little before lifting her hand to pull at the strands of hair around her face. Instinctively, she checked the back of her hair too and felt some very dated layers. "What the---"

She barely had time to finish her thought when she heard the sound of Mulder skidding into the cave. He was looking at her with the same shocked fixation as Vivienne.

"Okay, now you're both looking at me that way, why? What did it do to my hair?" she asked, as worried as she was puzzled.

Mulder's answer only made her feel worse.

"Twenty five years youn-- Mulder, that's impossible. That's--" Pausing in frustration, Scully checked her pockets for her phone and swiped to the front facing camera. "Oh my god..." She touched her own cheek, her own hair, her nose, her mouth, eventually lifting her gaze back to Mulder and Vivienne, looking between them in bewilderment. "This can't be real," she protested. "I look twelve, Mulder"

His mouth twitched. "I don't know. But my dad dad, my real dad, he's kind, too. He's great. And, just so you know, he doesn't know the whole.. that thing."

"I like being told I look like my mom. It makes me feel close to her. But I also like when people say I'm like my Aunt Zelda. Or if they tell me an idea I have is one my father had too. I mean, don't you think it's kinda nice to know that you're connected to all your family in these tiny, everyday ways?"

Sabrina knew the confusion of having two families, two sets of parents, and the complication of wanting to honour all sides.

"Sounds like both your dads would have gotten along," she told him. "But it's probably for the best that your dad doesn't know, well, everything. Some people do not do well with that kind of revelation."

"I don't know. She said my birth dad was 'kind.' Like, what am I supposed to do with that?"