Shape Shifters

I do not own the character’s Mulder and Scully. They belong to FOX, 1013, and CC. I meant no copyright infringement. I am not getting any money for this, simply pleasure. Please don’t sue me. I beg of you CC please!

The Characters; Rose Williams, Monica Crys, and Brian Save are mine. They belong to me completely. Oh yes. Even though it seems like my characters Morph like the popular book series, they do not. They simple change. They grow or shrink or there is a flash of light and they change that way.

Rating: PG13 (mild Language)

Summary: An unusual rape case brings Mulder and Scully to the hilly area of Washington. They meet an unusual trio, but the real question…is real or just a dream?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The giant beast stretched in a cat-like way and then walked towards the front of the cave. Its legs were long and muscular, it yawned and the light glinted off its teeth. It’s claws clicked on the on the floor of the cave. Its wing’s folded back around the end of its body, and its tail waved back and forth like a cattail. It roared and the cows down the mountain from the cave scattered.

There was a flash of light and a black horse galloped out of the cave. It reared up and raced down a trail to the valley bellow. It ran until it reached the outside of a small town and then it shifted into a tall woman with strawberry colored hair. Her light yellow cotton dress swished gently around her ankles as she walked into town.

"Hello Rose. How are you on this lovely day?" A man in a cotton gray shirt and blue jeans asked while he tipped his hat to her.

"Oh I’m fine, Gray. How’s you’re stock doing?" she smiled and her green eyes shined brilliantly in the morning sun.

"I keep losing one or two a week. Everybody thinks it’s the dragon. You should be careful up on the mountain. I heard they like human blood, too." She flinched but quickly ended the conversation. She walked into town, fingering the vial of purple and green crystals, and all she could hear the town talking about was the dragon on the hill. Rose laughed quietly to herself.

*****

The dragon stepped out of the cave, she had been woken by something. She didn’t know what from yet but if she listened she knew she would find out eventually. A scream gently caressed her ears. She threw open her wings and jumped into the air. She circled over the patch of woods that the scream had come from, she waited to see or hear something from below.

"HELP!!"

Folding her wings back she dove into the trees and immediately spotted a girl with her dress ripped in several places. There was a boy crouched over her with his pants down around his ankles. Engaged, Rose roared and the boy stumbled backwards. Rose grabbed the young girl and took off. The girl screamed and kicked even more as Rose held her and flew her back to the village.

"Hush, little one. I’m taking you home." The girl kicked and screamed even more. Finally Rose reached the girl’s home and she landed there. The family came running out, her father with a shotgun. The man pointed it at Rose and shot at her. Rose took off and flew away before she got hurt.

****

"Ok and we are going up to Washington because…" Scully looked at Mulder from behind her desk. He had his sleeves rolled up and it showed off his arm mussels. He was wearing his reading glasses as he glanced at the open file in front of him.

"There is a claim of a small town being bothered by a Dragon-"

"What? You’re kidding right?"

"There seems to be a problem with the town and a dragon. They think that a woman living on the hill is helping the dragon and we don’t have much time before the towns’ people get really mad. The "Dragon" seemed to only take a cow or two every few days and just recently a young girl was attacked."

"I’m guessing that because of the fact that it had to do with dragons we got it." Mulder nodded, stood and walked over to Scully’s desk. He dropped the file on her desk and then dropped a plane ticket on top of the folder. He held up two fingers and then grabbed his coat, and left the office.

Scully flipped open the folder and glanced quickly at it. She stood, crabbed her coat and left. She had an hour to pack before Mulder picked her up.

****

"Mulder, it says here the girl was about to be raped. And she claimed that the "dragon" had saved her. If this is true why are the towns people so upset? You think they would be happy to have a "dragon" protecting them."

Mulder took his eyes away from the road to quickly glance at Scully. She was staring at the file, her reading glasses perched gently on her nose. She looked up when he didn’t answer.

"Scully, I don’t know why. You know how small towns people are. They already believed there was a dragon up there. They are going to blame everything on the dragon, everything bad, even if it doesn’t exist." He turned into the parking lot of Big Bad Berny’s motel. Scully closed the file and looked up at the sign. She stepped out and Mulder popped the trunk.

"Mulder, next time let me make reservations. I don’t think I’ll be able to stay in another roach motel." She walked around to the back of the car and pulled her bag out of the trunk. Mulder closed the trunk and smiled at her.

"Aww, come on Scully. Where else can you pay by the hour?" He ducked just in time so the rock flying at his head missed. Mulder was about to open the lobby door, a loud roar filled the air. Scully glanced at Mulder. He nodded. They quickly checked into their rooms and then left for the nearby town.

****

Rose yawned again. She was only slightly worried. The town’s people had called in the FBI to look into the investigations. Hopefully the FBI would tell them to be looking for the rapist. She guessed it wouldn’t be a bad thing to go down to the town to see if the FBI had arrived yet.

She changed into the human form of herself and walked down to the town. She spotted a silver car and smiled to the two people that exited the car from where it was parked. She followed them as they walked into the police HQ. She passed by them and stepped behind the bar that separated the visitor area from the workers area.

"I’ll get the chief for you right away." She walked down the hall, leaving the FBI’s alone at the front desk.

"Ok do you want to interview the girl first or go out in the woods to see where the girl said the dragon picked her up?" Scully tilted her head gently at Mulder, letting him make up his mind.

"How about I nice walk in the woods, Scully?" She slapped his arm and her smirked at her. "Well we’ve got a few hours of light. I say we check out the site then interview the girl. K?" She nodded her agreement as the woman that had left to get the chief came back leading a short and slightly pudgy man. He was even shorter then Scully. Somehow that made her feel better.

"You’re the FBI agents right? I’m Mark Thompson, chief of this one horse town." Scully smiled at the man’s attempted joke.

"Yep, all the way from Washington. We here you’ve got a dragon problem?" The short man nodded and led them back to his office.

"Well, as you’ve probably figured out from the report that the dragon doesn’t exist. The girl was probably on something, I sent her blood in for tox scans and everything. We are getting the results back tomorrow. Our major problem is that people really believe there is a dragon up there."

"Why?" Scully asked, hey she was interested.

"Well, we hear things, loud roars in the early mornings and late at night. Live stock disappears in the middle of the night. People alone are smart intelligent creatures, but when you get them together in a herd they’re like sheep, scared of everything"

"We would like to go take a look at the site that girl claims the dragon helped her at. Think you could give us directions?" Mulder asked quietly from the back of the room.

"I can do even better. I’ll give you transportation and a guide. The spots really a distance in there, and it’s really hard to get there by foot and back without spending all day in the woods. I’ll have Rose, my secretary, take you and you will have to ride out there."

"Ride what?" the both asked it at the same time, Scully was worried about what it might mean.

"Horses, there easier then bulky AV’s." he stood and walked to the door. "Rose come here please."

"What?"

"I need you to take the FBI’s up to the attack site. You know the woods better then anyone else." Mulder and Scully glanced at each other. "You might as well take them to the cave, as well."

"My pleasure. I’m assuming that they will be needing sleeping accommodations for this evening?" She tilted her head and the light from the slightly drawn curtains caught her hair and sent yellow, gold, and red sparks flying. Mark nodded and Rose motioned gently to the two agents. "Go back to your hotel. Pack for a day or two and meet me back here in an hour."

****

Rose glanced in her rear view mirror at the two in the back seat. Mulder, as the other had called him, was a dreamer. Rose could tell right off the bat. The woman, Scully, she trusted her education more then her instincts. Rose could tell that the two agents were close, simple things told her that. The way her let her lead, the way her rested his hand on the small of her back, and the way she had held his hand the whole time they had been in the car.

"Almost there. Do you have any boots with you?" Scully felt something in her being drawn to the woman in the front seat. Scully guessed it was because Rose had a soft Irish, Scottish accent that reminded her of her sister. The woman’s tongue rolled over the words and made them flow.

"No. Mulder has dress shoes. Are they ok?"

"Oh no, but its ok. I’ve got some boots you can borrow."

"I’m sorry but I didn’t get you name back at the station."

"Rose Allen. I know who you two are. Agents Mulder and Scully, FBI. Small town, news travels fast." Rose turned the car around the last bend in the road and slide to a stop. She climbed out and popped the trunk, which held the overnight bags.

"Rose. I was wondering about your opinion on the whole dragon thing." Scully asked as she climbed the stairs behind Rose, as she led the way into the house.

"Well, I know the dragon is out there. I’ve seen it, but this whole thing about the dragon attacking the girl? No, the dragon was just helping. She picked up the girl in the woods to save her and then she took the girl home." Rose unlocked the door and pointed down the hall. "I’m sorry but you both will have to share a room. It’s all the way down at the end of the hall. Change, be ready to ride in fifteen minutes. I’ll take you to the attack sight and then the cave."

"Top or bottom Scully?" Mulder asked with a quirk of his eyebrow as they walked down the hall. Scully walked into the room and turned to look at Mulder. She placed her hands on her hips and smiled.

"You really think you can handle being on top?"

****

"As you can see, this is where the dragon crashed through the trees." Rose pointed up at the treetops, then at the deep gouges in the ground. Mulder crouched down by one of the gouges. He took a sample and placed the little glass vial in his saddlebag. Scully stared up at the trees.

"Anything could have made those gouges and the trees could have fallen in a storm." Rose mounted her horse and smiled.

"You don’t believe in things like this do you?" Scully shook her head. Rose looked at Mulder. "I know that you believe in this kind of stuff. Come, we go to the cave. Only a few minutes from here." Mulder and Scully remounted. Rose moved her horse into a canter and Mulder and Scully followed close behind.

"Did you know that there have been sightings in this area for thousands years? Legend has it that the Dragon is a shape-shifter. She can change into any living thing that she wants too. It also says that she had a love once, but in the eight hundreds, the time of the dragon slayers, they hunted him down. She then fled her homeland of Scotland and came here. She hides in her cave, waiting to die so that she can be reunited with her long lost love." They climbed a small rocky path and then Rose stopped. She dismounted and removed all the gear from her horse, She then slapped the horse on the rump and it galloped off.

Mulder and Scully looked at her funny. They dismounted, but held onto their horses tightly, unsure of what to do. Scully tilted her body till she felt the familiar and comforting feeling of her gun digging into her back.

"Untack your horses. We’ll sleep here. To close to night for us to be able to make it back to my home in time." Mulder and Scully did as Rose said. Rose went out and collected firewood while Mulder helped Scully put up the tents.

Later, after they had the fire going and had eaten the food that Rose had packed for them, Mulder used a flashlight to explore the cave. Scully stayed behind and talked with Rose.

Rose looked at Scully, The woman was rather quiet, for such an inquisitive nature any way. Rose began to wonder what experiences had changed her. Rose remembered her. She had met the young Scully woman and her sister once. Her father had wanted to take the family on a camping trip. Young Dana had decided to go adventuring. Dana had gotten lost and wandered into her cave. The girl hadn’t been afraid. It had inspired Rose, that such a small girl had been so ready to plunge head first into the unknown, to not be scared. Rose had been in dragon form and had changed to take Dana back to her family. Dana’s sister, Missy, had instantly seen through her disguise.

"Tell me Dana, How’s Missy?" Dana looked up slowly from the cup in her hands. Her eyes were filled with pain and revenge. Rose just stared, dumbfounded, she didn’t think it possible that Dana had forgotten her.

"How did you know my sister’s name?" Dana growled the words accusingly, Rose held up her hands.

"Relax. I met you family once. Long time ago you all came up here for a camping trip. Remember?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mulder slowly emerging from the cave.

"We never came here."

"Yes you did. You wanted to go adventuring so you left the camp. You got lost and wandered into my...I mean this cave. I helped you find your way home. Your mother, Maggie, she invited me to diner and your sister, Missy, took quite an interest in me." Dana’s eyes grew wide and she stared at Rose. "I see you remember. Probably not the part I want you too, but…"

"I remember, but I always thought it was a dream. Dragons aren’t real. I just saw shadows in the cave." Rose smiled and stood.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe now? When I first meet you, it was so easy for you to believe. Your sister did. She saw right through me. Do I have to show you Dana?"

"What did you see, Scully?" Mulder asked leaning on the cave wall. "Believe the dream and tell me what you saw."

"She saw me. Exactly the same, ‘cept different hair color. That was when she was 11 years old. She saw me like this and in my natural form." Mulder lifted an eyebrow. "Not an Alien, is that all you ever think about? A dragon, Fox. She saw me, and so did her sister."

Rose clenched her teeth and her body began to transform. Her neck and head grew 10 times its size and she fell forward on her now very mussculer arms and she grew in size. Wings sprouted from her back and grew longer, Her tail extended form her body. She stretched out her wings and her back and gave a loud satisfied roar.

Scully stood and took a few steps back. Mulder dropped the flashlight in his hand quickly crossed to put himself between Scully and Rose. Rose turned her head and looked at the two of them, she sighed and laid down.

"I’m not going to hurt you. I can’t hurt people. You see a long time ago, when man was new and us dragons old. The oldest dragon called a meeting that all the dragons in the world attended. We decided to take pity on the people of the world. We became friends."

The air around Mulder and Scully began to shimmer and soon they where looking at Scotland. Hundreds of dragons filled the air. Then they saw Dragons and people living and playing together. They saw dragons walking through fields and waving at people. Then Rose appeared in the image that surrounded them.

"And then Man changed. He became greedy. Some of the younger Dragons began to demand for the blood of the lost dragons that man had claimed because we’re a rare beast. The older dragons believed that humans would change their ways, they never did. One man, Arthur, he made his knights learn and live by the old code. The young dragons began ravaging towns to repay the lives of the lost brothers and sisters."

Everything that Rose said was played out on the shimmering thing in front of Mulder and Scully. They saw King Arthur and his Knights. They watched as the Dragons ravaged towns and went after people. Rose stood there by Mulder and Scully’s side as if they we’re really there.

"And then it happened. Our leader was killed by a mob of angry villagers. We had no leader. The young dragons that wanted revenge for their lost leader took it. A few of us tried to hide in our homeland, but we we’re flushed out and killed. Only a few of us escaped to other countries. My love, Maik, was one of the unfortunate ones that was killed before his escape."

Dragon’s flying low over burning villages. Dragon’s sleeping in caves with people storming in and burning them alive. Then Rose, in human form and another man. Scully gasped when she saw the man’s face. He looked so much like Mulder. Scully turned to look at Rose, who stood at her side.

"You must have been surprised."

"Why?"

"Mulder, he looks so much like your Maik." Rose nodded then looked again at the events happening before them. Maik and Rose walked then looked behind them. They both spun and started running. A man on a horse raced towards to two fleeing dragons. The man on the horse threw the sword and it hit Maik. The air was filled with a roar, as Maik fell to the ground. Rose turned back but the crowd of people began to chase her.

"And then I left. I’ve been in this cave for hundreds of years. I like it here. Now do you understand why I showed you who I really was?" Rose asked as she lay down on the other side of the fire.

Mulder shook his head but Scully had an idea why. "You have nowhere else to go, don’t you?"

"No. I can’t go back to my home. I guess if I have to I could try and blend in with the humans but I’m not really sure if that would work. I’m not very good with blending in." Mulder looked at Scully and cleared his throat. Scully looked at him and nodded.

"Why not try the FBI?" Rose’s head lifted slowly off the ground. She snorted and got up.

"No. I’d rather stay here and live my life in peace. Stay out here as long as you want. You are welcome to sleep in the cave." She walked into the cave. Her body slowly disappeared into the darkness of the cave.

Scully started at the fire. She turned to look at Mulder after a while. She stared into the fire for a long time. Mulder sat and watched her, wondering what she was thinking. After a time she stood up and walked away from him and the fire.

"Scully?" He jogged after her.

"No, Mulder. I need some time. I need to clear my head ok?" He just stood there and watched as she walked away from him. He sighed and sat back down by the fire. His eyes drifted to a moving object in the darkness on the other side of the fire. Pulling his gun out of it’s holster he stood and walked towards the object.

****

"ARE WE GOING TO LET THIS DRAGON EAT OUR CHILDREN?" The man on the roof of the truck yelled to the gathering town’s people. "ARE WE GOING TO CONTINUE TO LET IT EAT OUR LIVE STOCK? BOTHER OUR TOWN?"

"NO!" The crowd had grown to extremely large numbers for such a small town. They gathered around the truck, some carried pitchforks and others carried shotguns. A few people carried torches. It look as though they belonged in the Frankenstein movie. The sheriff rushed out of the police station with two other officers on his heels.

"Calm down! The FBI is here and there up at Rose’s trying to figure out what is going on! If you go up there you could destroy all the evidence!" He shouted.

"ROSE IS HELPING THE DRAGON! SO ARE THE FBI AGENTS! WE MUST GO UP THERE AND KILL ROSE AND THE DRAGON IF WE WANT THE KILLINGS TO STOP!!" The man jumped down from the truck and led the crowd towards the mountain. The police officers tried there best to stop the crowd but they were unable to stop the mob. The sheriff rushed back into the station and tried to get a hold on Rose.

One ring, two rings, three rings, four. "Fuck." He hung up the phone and raced out to his car. He had to try and stop the mob.

****

Scully kicked the leaves as she walked. She kept trying to reason with herself that the dragon she had seen not to long ago wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Dragon’s where like Ghosts and Alien’s. Well, maybe not aliens. A sound to her right made her freeze.

Out of the darkness a doe and her fawn appeared. Scully stood very still, she watched as the doe lowered her head and ate the grass by its hooves. The fawn watched Scully. Slowly it approached her. As the fawn got close Scully moved her hand out. The fawn sniffed it and then licked her palm. Scully crouched down and ran her hand along its head and back.

"It thinks your another deer." A soft voice came from behind her. She didn’t turn her head, she knew who was behind her.

"How did you sneak up behind me?" She asked as the doe walked over to investigate.

"Us wolves are very good at that sort of thing." Scully turned her head to look at the gray wolf behind her. "Don’t worry" It began to change. It’s front legs and paws grew and became arms and hands. Its rear feet grew to become legs and feet. The rest of it changed until it was a tall woman. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her blue eyes danced in dark light of night through lightly dusted silver eyelashes. Her black bangs covered one eye and her thin mouth held a light trace of red. The thin lips curved up and the woman looked down at Scully.

"How many of you people is there?" Scully asked looking up.

"I see you’ve meet Rose. She’s a dragon, I’m not. I am a relative to the dragons, I can change like them but I can’t take on the form of a dragon and I do not live as long. I can see you are having trouble believing this." Scully nodded.

"This is becoming more then I can handle." Above her a hawk screamed and the woman before her looked up. She then looked to her right.

"Oh no." The woman looked up. The hawk circled above them, she held out her arm and the bird landed on her hand. She smiled at Scully and then turned to walk away.

"Wait! Who are you?" The woman stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Monica. Monica Crys. It was a pleasure to see you again Dana. You better get back to Rose."

****

"Who’s there?" Mulder called into the darkness that stood quietly, waiting for the fire to die and over take the hillside as it always did when the sun went down.

The darkness shifted again and Mulder stepped beyond the reach of the flames. His and Scully’s horse’s snorted as he approached and he quietly slipped past them. His body hugged the edge of the trail as he climbed higher. Soon the tail opened up to a flat cliff. His breath caught in his throat as he looked over the edge.

He could see the town and Rose’s house. He also saw glowing lights. He watched as they moved towards the mountain. He watched as it entered the forest. He knew what it was, an angry mob of frightened people. It was like he was watching one of those old black and white monster movies.

"It’s over for us." A deep voice came from behind him and he turned to look. Rose’s horse stood there, watching him. It came up beside him and looked over the cliff. "We can’t hide here anymore. Rose was right, she knew we would have to leave sooner or later."

Mulder’s jaw hit the floor, he had never in his life seen a horse talk. "What the…" Before him the horse began to change. It’s hind legs shrunk and it began to stand right up. It changed into a man. He was as tall as Mulder and had brown eyes with blue lashes, his slightly long blond hair halfway covered his eyes. He glanced at Mulder and then pointed down into the woods.

"You are the chosen ones." Mulder started at him. A small smile began to dance across the other man’s thin lips.

"Chosen ones? What are you talking about?" The man sighed and then looked back out over the cliff.

"You and the woman. You are the ones that have come to help us. You may not know it but you are the ones that have been chosen to reveal the truth to everyone. It has been a long time but we have waited for you to come."

"I don’t understand."

"Ofcourse you don’t. All we know is that you are the ones to teach the world and we are here to help you. The truth, Fox, is something that you fight for. You and Dana are the ones to find it, and we are the ones to help you. I know that you don’t understand but you will someday, you will." A bald eagle circled close to them and landed on the man’s shoulder. The man turned and walked down the path.

"Wait! What’s your name?"

"Brian. Brian Save. Now come, we don’t have much time." Mulder followed Brian back down the path wondering about Brian’s last name.

****

Rose walked out of the cave. Her claws tapped on the rock under her feet. She could feel it coming. Maybe they we’re the ones, she had no idea. All she knew was that the town’s people we’re coming. She turned her head as Brian and Mulder came into view. Brian’s eagle was on his shoulder.

"Where’s Dana?" She asked as Brian approached her.

"Monica is with her." Suddenly Monica’s hawk, Artimus, burst into the light.

"They got her. Rose they caught them! We must hurry they are going to kill them!" Artimus landed in front of Rose. Rose growled and looked at Mulder and Brian.

"Come, If They want a dragon, they’ll get a dragon. Brian you have to lead him, he doesn’t know his way out of the woods. Fox, you follow Brian. I will save Monica and Dana. I will meet you two at the hotel where the agent’s are staying."

Rose opened her wings and roared. She knew Mulder would disobey her but she didn’t care, she ha to save her child. She jumped up into the air and flew down into the town. She glided over it and roared. The town’s people froze, many of them screamed and started running.

Brian watched as Rose flew over the town several times. Behind him, Mulder jumped on one of the horses. Brian changed into a wolf and started running. Mulder had his horse gallop after him but when they got close to the town, Mulder turned towards the town.

As he rode into view of the opening where the town’s people were holding a tall woman and Scully. Rose made another pass and Mulder galloped up to Scully and the woman. "Scully." He said under his breath and then screamed, "Scully!"

"Mulder!" Scully cried as he rode up to her. He jumped off the horse and started untying her. When he finished untying her he was about to start on the other woman but Scully stopped him. Rose roared from above and Monica nodded. She began to change and Mulder gasped. Scully pulled at his hand and he turned. He swung himself up on the horse and grabbed Scully’s hand. He kicked the horse into action and pulled her up at the same time.

Behind them Monica changed into a bird and took off. She flew alongside Mulder and Scully. Rose watched them go and then roared again. She threw a fireball, or a flaming snot as Monica liked to call them, at the posts that had held Monica and Dana. The then flew off.

****

Mulder woke with a start and looked around the hotel room. His suitcase sat, unopened, on the chair where he had left it. He looked down. He was still in his suit. Shaking his head he looked at his watch. There was a knock at his door and he went to answer it.

"Mulder?" Scully stood there clad in her bathrobe and socks.

"Yeah?" He walked away from the door and sat on the bed, she joined him.

"Was it real? Or did we just imagine it?" Mulder shrugged is shoulders.

"I don’t know. I really have no idea." The cry of a hawk brought them both to his window. Down on the ground stood a wolf and a horse. A bald eagle stood on the horse’s back and the hawk landed on the wolf’s back. Mulder and Scully looked at each other and at the same time they said, "It can’t be."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX