#all I wanted was a Winterfield fic

[chamberlains-ghoul]

When you’re browsing through the Ethan Winters shipping tags and it’s all Mia bashing/Rose doesn’t exist

[rallamajoop]

Twist my arm, why don’t you? XD Well, I did tell you guys to ask!

What the hell, let’s open this one by sharing a few pics from a Sims household created by a good friend of mine, made up of Heisenberg (mad scientist), Mia (secret agent) and Ethan (just really wants to be a dad). The three of them immediately became the most delightful sims-land trainwreck imaginable.

Their neighbourhood is full of werewolves, because you can do that in the Sims. Ethan’s apparently made friends with some of them. But because this is Sims-land, when he and Mia tried to have a romantic dinner together, it ended with Ethan passed out on the kitchen floor while Mia set herself on fire, with Heisenberg running in in his underwear with some passing hippie, and being no help whatsoever. Aren’t Sims wonderful?

Beyond the land of the Sims, though… I mean, let’s be honest, my desire for mithanberg comes from how I ship both Ethan/Heisenberg and Ethan/Mia, and refuse to choose between them. I could see it working either as a proper OT3, or a poly arrangement where Ethan’s involved with both of them, but Mia and Heisenberg aren’t involved with each other (on which note, I also ship the hell out of Mia/Zoe, so Mia is not missing out here).

For the few really mithanberg-ish things I’ve ever posted so far, Follow Me Home is headed for the former category, whereas that other one is more likely headed for the latter. Going for the proper-OT3 option does come with the extra hurdle of trying to figure out how Mia/Heisenberg would work when they’ve never even met in canon, but I am fully up for the challenge.

But there’s way more to this ship for me than just the convenience of ‘why not both’. Seriously, wintersberg fic is missing out on so much by writing Mia off so quickly.

For one, Ethan’s somewhat-complicated relationship with Mia is the best evidence you could ask for that Ethan might actually be up for getting involved with someone as fucked up as Heisenberg (or even Chris, if you’re more into winterfield). Mia has canonically lied to Ethan, (accidentally) drawn him into mortal danger, and (while possessed) sliced off his hand with a chainsaw. Ethan’s still with her in RE8, so clearly he’s willing to forgive.

Fig 1: Apparently not a dealbreaker!

Heisenberg, meanwhile, opens their relationship by stabbing Ethan with a fucking spear-headed fencepost, chains him up, drags him off be put on trial, and ‘rescues’ him only by throwing him into a gauntlet of lycans and spike traps. He later sends Ethan through the second gauntlet that is the Stronghold, before finally trying to make a deal with him. When Ethan refuses, Heisenberg throws him to a chainsaw-propeller-faced monstrosity made of engine parts sewed onto a corpse.

Fig 2: Also not a dealbreaker?

I will make some excuses for Heisenberg, given that he’s been trapped in a repressive cult for decades and seems to have internalised a lot of bullshit about the strong destroying the weak, but holy shit is this guy red flag city (and I love it). And that’s not even touching on all the violent bullshit Chris pulls in this game. You may also note that neither Heisenberg or Chris have Mia’s convenient mind-control or replaced-by-a-shapeshifter excuse for their worst behaviour.

Ethan asks for none of the madness all these maniacs have injected into his life, but goddamn, does he learn to roll with it and come back swinging. Whether or not you assume Ethan ever found out the truth about Mia’s past, she offers us some solid proof that Ethan’s ‘type’ does not exclude covert special agents with a talent for violence, who’ve spent years working full-time for evil bioweapons manufacturers. Ethan may not be ready to admit to himself that he’s got a thing for dangerous people, and Mia may be a lot better at pretending to be normal than Heisenberg, but the fact Ethan’s still with her could say a lot.

Basically, if you wanna ship Ethan with either of these other guys, Mia Winters is the best ally you could ask for!

There are other problems with writing off Mia too quickly so you can ship Ethan with someone else, one being that it makes Ethan look like, well, kind of a psychopath. Fic after fic presents him as the kind of guy who can witness the mother of his child being brutally murdered in front of him, and within a matter of hours, he’s apparently realised he was never that happy with her anyway, so it’s just fine if he’s fucking some other dude. The fact the ‘Mia’ people are so quick to dismiss as an abusive bitch wasn’t even the real Mia apparently doesn’t necessitate any sort or reexamination. It’s basically a meme at this point.

Thing is, even if his relationship with the real Mia was unhealthy, you just aren’t going to make a guy like Ethan process that within hours of watching her fucking assassination. Try and make him face it, and you’ll push him straight into defensiveness. Even at the best of times, Ethan’s just not the kind of guy who could leave the mother of his child without a fuckload of heartache and a few rounds of ‘what does this say about me’ at the very least (and Mia loves Ethan far too much to leave him, except in a misguided attempt to protect him). Even if you're writing an AU where Mia really does die (rather than just suffering the usual round of character assassination), at least let that poor boy ANGST about it! C’mon, people – that’s the juicy stuff!

Of course, the real problem fans are grappling with here is that in the current fandom climate, the idea that Ethan would willingly hook up with a guy who stabbed him in the gut that morning is still somehow more palatable than having to consider that Ethan might be capable of being (gasp!) less than completely faithful to a partner who doesn’t deserve it. So it’s not enough that he thinks Mia’s dead, she’s also got to be a horrible person and a complete non-entity who can be forgotten as quickly as we’ve brought her up, just to get her out of the way – as if that somehow makes Ethan look better.

People are so eager to get rid of Mia that I have legit read multiple different fics where, even after being mysteriously reborn post-game via horrific mould-magic, somehow one of the very first things Ethan wants to talk about afterwards is divorcing his wife. Can we not even give the poor guy a single scene to have a proper existential crisis over not being human anymore before finding a woman to blame for all his problems?

Fig 3: Ethan's actual thoughts on his wife right before his death

On the greater subject of that whole inconvenient marriage poor Ethan's saddled with, I can only say ‒ again ‒ c’mon, people, that’s the juicy stuff! A good story needs conflict, and Ethan having had this weird hook-up with/confusing attraction to an incredibly creepy guy in the middle of an incredibly confusing day and while he thought his wife was dead, only to later discover that she’s alive? GOLD.

You don’t even necessarily have to wrap it all back around to a happy OT3 scenario. An Ethan who's struggling with Mia’s (actual) death, or even the realisation that he truly can’t deal with all her lies, all while telling himself Heisenberg’s just a rebound fling that doesn’t mean anything – that’s all the angst and pathos and opportunities for filthy smut you could ever ask for! Lean into it! Heck, the Duke tells Ethan outright that he can’t go back to his old life anymore – you could have Ethan decide his own status as a mould-creature makes him too dangerous to go back to Mia and Rose. More angst, more drama, more actual material for narrative conflict!

tl;dr: Write Mia off in a sentence, and not only have you made Ethan look like an asshole, you’ve made your story boring. And thus (thank you for bearing with me) ends my tangent about The State of Wintersberg Fandom, and why Mia deserves more love (from Ethan at least, even if the author can't completely bring themselves to join in).

Getting back to the real topic here: if you are up for letting your resolution involve an OT3 scenario, you’ve got some great options to play with.

Mia bossing the other two around is certainly an angle you could go for, but I think I’d prefer watching Mia and Heisenberg working together to drive Ethan out of his mind (not that options like these are ever mutually exclusive, mind!) But I’m broadly more interested in how you get these three together than what it would look like once they get there. In other words, it’s time to talk Mia and Heisenberg.

As I touched on above, these two do have more in common than it might look at a glance. They’ve both been infected by the mould, they’ve both spent years (or even decades) trapped in dysfunctional, cult-like, mould-controlled families, and had to bottle themselves up and hide behind a persona while working for truly terrible people. They’ve both done some truly terrible stuff themselves, probably watched even worse happen to other innocent people, and presumably internalised some pretty awful excuses for themselves along the way. They’re also both madly in love with Ethan (what, is anyone into wintersberg going to argue with me on that one?) In short, there is no lack of stuff for these two to bond over and find common ground.

I can’t see Mia being too hard to convince if Ethan does want to try an open relationship either. Heck, the first thing we ever see from Mia involves sending Ethan a message where she tries to let him go, because she doesn’t think she’s making it back alive. Her guilt throughout RE7 is palpable, and how much she loves Ethan is the same. I don’t think it’s any stretch to say Mia would be willing to contemplate almost anything if it would make Ethan happy (and frankly, she’s pulled enough shit herself in this relationship that she doesn’t get to get judgy anyhow).

That said, I do think she’d have reasonable concerns about Ethan’s new boyfriend being someone like Heisenberg, but then, he’s hardly any more dangerous than what Mia’s brought to the table herself. If anything, your bigger obstacle would be convincing Ethan that he’s sure enough about whatever’s going on with Heisenberg to admit it at all. But then, I don’t think getting Mia and Heisenberg involved with each other too would be too difficult either.

It doesn’t hurt that Mia has a lot of the same characteristics that probably draw Heisenberg to Ethan: a badass survivor, tough and determined enough to be a little sassy even in the face of danger, but still very vulnerably human underneath. That vulnerable side of Mia is a very important part of her to me – it’s the main aspect in play in the longest thing I’ve (yet) posted with any Mia/Heisenberg interaction, where she’s locked up in Miranda’s lab, and has no good reason to trust him. There’s nothing openly shippy going on in that story, though Heisenberg makes no bones about what he wants with her husband. I’m not sure exactly where things are headed in that universe, but you know there’s drama coming on in that front.

The main point there is that Mia’s not too badass to be intimated by Heisenberg, especially when she’s got her back up against the wall. Take them out of the village, though, and I can see Mia being a much tougher nut to crack.

Which is mostly my way of leading into mentioning that the longest thing I’ve written between them that I haven’t posted yet basically flips the previous scenario: instead of Heisenberg coming to tell Mia he’s after her husband, now it’s Mia coming to tell him she knows what he’s after, and he's about to receive some serious grilling about his intentions. What I realised in writing it was that somewhere in the middle of this conversation, Heisenberg goes from seeing Mia as an obstacle between him and Ethan to seeing her as a potential bonus. He’s impressed with her gall and starting to look at her in a whole new light. This is one ficbit that's definitely going places ‒ only problem being the usual one: I’ve still got to write the rest of the damn fic to get to that scene. (I’m working on it! But you know how it goes.)

That isn’t the only way I can see you getting the three of them together, of course. One interesting alternate possibility might be to suggest that Mia and Heisenberg have met before. Mia seems to have met Miranda (they’ve been photographed together, at least), and it’s not completely beyond the realms of possibility that Miranda might have brought along an ‘assistant’ (slash-bodyguard-slash-whatever else she thinks he’s useful for). And if she’s going to bring any of her ‘children’, Heisenberg is by far the best qualified to pass as normal, hilarious as that should be.

I don’t imagine either Heisenberg of Mia would be eager to admit any of their personal reservations about their respective ‘bosses’ to each other, meeting under circumstances like that. But the possibilities are intriguing nonetheless.

For complete AU territory, however, I don’t think you could find a better start point for an Ethan/Mia/Heisenberg scenario than to introduce Heisenberg as Mia’s ex. He’d be back in her life for Reasons, and Ethan would naturally be more than a little threatened by this huge, hot guy with history with his wife, little realising that Heisenberg’s as interested in Ethan as he is in rekindling anything with her.

Or for doing the whole thing on easy-mode, suppose Mia and Ethan have always been in an open relationship from the start – or that they’ve already had that conversation because Mia’s also in love with Zoe (I meant it when I said I ship them too!) Doesn’t mean there’s no angst or drama potential for Ethan getting involved with Heisenberg: he’s still going to be questioning what’s wrong with him that this guy is turning his crank, or whether it’s remotely appropriate for him to be seeing someone new while he’s got a six-month-old daughter at home. But if nothing else, I can promise you that having a third person around to babysit while Ethan’s ‘busy’ could only do good things for his sex life at this point. ;D

So, yeah – those would be My Thoughts On Mithanberg in a nutshell (or possibly more of a nut bowl, I can never resist the urge turn out a full essay on this stuff). If you’ve got any interest in writing mithanberg yourself, please do consider all these ideas free to a good home! Treating Mia better makes Ethan/Heisenberg better for me, and all those possibilities are right there to explore.

But to finish, have some more random Sims!

There are many more of these if anyone wants to see them, though most are less G-rated ‒ the friend running this household has installed ALL of the porn mods to enhance this little trainwreck.

(Also, before I'm done, just throwing a quick tag at @macgyvertape, since I had to screenshot their ask rather than reply 'officially' so I could reply to the both of them at once.)

[nanamismoonchild]

Caught in a Blizzard 

pairing: husband!jungkook x wife!reader ft Seokjin

genre: fluff :D

warnings: none

wc: ~2k

A/N: This is for Jords @balenciaguks​ for btswritingcafe’s Secret Santa event. It was so nice being your candy cane even though it got cut short by the evil blog that shall not be named anymore. This is a short fic but I do hope you love it. I had a few moments where I couldn’t stop cheesing lol. And I thought I saw you say that you came out of the concert being a Jin stan so ofc I had to add him in some way.  I used all three of your prompts and i hope you like how i used them ehehe. without further ado, here is the fic!

“I just wanted to be with you! Only you!” 

You were screaming as you stormed out of the cabin your husband had rented for your honeymoon.  

He had the most despicable thing he had ever done in your six-year relationship with each other—invite another couple to your honeymoon.  What the hell had he been thinking?

He had tried to say that he had done it because it was way cheaper to rent it out for four people instead of two and that they wouldn’t be with the two of you all the time. It was just a convenient set-up and he didn’t understand what was wrong.  You were being unreasonable. 

Unreasonable, my ass. 

You had no idea where you were going, but it was definitely going to be away for a couple of hours. The local news station had talked about an upcoming blizzard and warned that everyone needed to be indoors by a fire. However, there was no way you could sit idle without trying to murder your new husband.

A quick walk through the forest next to your cabin would do the trick.  The town you had picked for your honeymoon, Winterfield,  had the prettiest forests and it had been on your to-do list anyway. Why not let the woodlands calm you?

There was a trail already formed in the thick snow that covered all inches of the ground. If you squinted through the blindness of the bright white snow, you could see little footprints from some of the animals.  

Even though there was a couple of hours of sunlight left, and the snow was brighter than you’ve ever seen. Christmas lights were hung through the giant trees and left off a small purple glow.  It did the pretty scenery only a little justice. It reminded you of how your wedding decorator had wanted to hang Christmas lights everywhere instead of letting the background do it’s work. 

She had persisted, but neither you or your husband relented. He knew how special a winter wedding was to you. It had been your dream as a little girl to have a wedding on a snowy day and kiss your husband during the first snow of the year.  It had taken so much planning—and a lot of news watching—to make that dream a reality and pesky little red, blue, and green lights around would not ruin the beauty of it.  

It was worthwhile. Everything worked out perfectly and your kiss had been magical. There was absolutely nothing that could ruin your wedding. But there was something that could ruin your honeymoon: your husband’s need to help everyone out.  

Sighing, you continued to stroll through the forest. Surprisingly, you had walked farther than you realized. The cold was starting to seep through your winter coat. Yet, you didn’t want to turn back.  You weren’t done thinking through your anger to see your husband at the moment. Besides, the cold never bothered you anyway. 

Jungkook was worried. You  hadn’t come back in an hour  and the storm was becoming stronger by the second.  He had wanted to chase after you when you stormed out, but he knew it was for his sake that he didn’t. He made a mistake, a really dumb mistake, and knew the only way the two of you could talk through it was if you both had a moment to think for yourselves. 

He had thought hard and long and came to the conclusion that he would rent another space that was, astonishingly, still available at this time. He booked it quickly and planned on telling you about it. That was an hour ago and you were still out when the storm began.  

At first, it had been a trickle of snow before the wind created an angry whistle and the snow began to race down.  He could hardly see outside of the window of the living room. 

“I’m going out to find ___”. He announced it to the other couple, Jin and his wife.  He put on his snow boots and two extra coats. He found a flashlight in the kitchen and checked to make sure it worked. 

“You sure you want to go out there now? Why don’t we call the police first?”

“I’m sure. And the police may not even be able to get here quickly enough. My wife could very well be on the ground freezing to death by the time they make it to her.”

“Be safe then, Kook.”

Jungkook’s hyung locked the door after him, watching him until he couldn’t see his dongsaeng anymore through the thick snow. 

The flashlight barely shone through the darkness as the snow pelted him. He couldn’t rely on footprints to show him where you might have gone, but he knew you. Your appreciation for the winter and forests were the main reason why Jungkook had picked Winterfield. It was supposed to be a grand gesture, yet he ruined it. It would be his fault if he couldn’t find…No,no. He would find you. 

The lights could barely be seen but the purple glow of Christmas lights was unmistakable.  Jungkook let out a small chuckle as he remembered how much you fussed about those lights. 

“It will take away the focus on the snow fall and  I want to see the first snow with you." 

To Jungkook, that was the sweetest thing you could ever tell him. 

The wedding had been the best, no, the most amazing moment of his life. You had been in a traditional white dress with sheer lace down your arms.  He had gone with a sleeveless tuxedo himself, garnering a lot of stares from the attendees of the wedding. But neither of you cared about the judgemental eyes.  

His doe eyes were on you and yours on his.  

At the moment, his eyes were scanning the surroundings he could see. He had no idea where you might have gone for safety and he briefly pondered how dumb you might’ve been to continue walking through the snow instead of turning back. Then he remembered the reason why you had been out here in the first place and quickly erased that thought from his mind. 

“__!” He yelled into the snow void.  He had read that snow is so dense that screams couldn’t be heard. Not to mention, he had watched Frozen with you on the plane ride here so the evidence was clear.  

But, by a miracle, a Christmas miracle, he had heard a very distinct voice calling him.

“Jungkook! Kook! I’m over here!” 

“Where’s over here?” 

He looked around frantically searching for you. 

“In the cave!”

Cave? 

He couldn’t see a cave, yet your voice was close.  It couldn’t be far.  

“Hold on, baby! I’m coming!”

He ran-walked, a clumsy version of speed walking through snow.  He thought your voice had come from the right, so he ran in that direction.  His heart was pacing and his breath was puffing into white smoke as he pushed through the storm. He was close to you. 

“Jungkook!” 

A body barreled into him, knocking him down. 

“Oh my gosh! I’m so happy to see you! I shouldn’t have left. I got lost and-” 

Your rant was smothered by a hot kiss from your husband.  It warmed your body from head to toe after being poked by Jack Frost for so long. 

“I’m just really happy to see you,” he sat the both of you up and wrapped his arms around you.  

“I know it all too well. Let’s get out of the storm,” you giggled and stood up, holding your hands out for him. 

He took it and picked up the flashlight that had flown from his grasp. The blizzard was getting powerful by the second. Thankfully, Jungkook knew they were only a mile or two away from the cabin. 

“Jungkook,” you began as the two of you trekked through the thick snow. 

“Save it for now. You’re gonna need your breath for now baby.”

You nodded and focused on the path in front of you.  You could barely see anything with the way the air had thickened. Even the purple-ish glow from the Christmas lights could barely be seen, but you knew that fire and a huge mug of hot chocolate were little ways in front of you. 

The silence between you and Jungkook was comfortable—an understanding that you both were safe. 

Seokjin had been watching the window since Jungkook had left. His wife had started a fire and was keeping two extra mugs of hot chocolate heated for Jungkook and you. He had been about to call the emergency line when he spotted two figures appear. 

“They’re here!” 

He ran out to meet them, cursing at the lick of cold that swiped his face, but he pushed forward.  He reached Jungkook and you and helped pull the two of you into the cabin.  His wife already had blankets ready and was wrapping them around your shivering bodies.

You and Jungkook breathed sighs of relief as the heat of the fire and blankets spread through your bodies. Your teeth were slowly losing their chattering and the color was coming back into your faces.  Both of you shed your wet, heavy coats and kicked them away. 

“The two of you are grounded! Had us worried sick! If you were so upset at us being here, then you could’ve talked to us face to face, not stomp out before a snowstorm like a child!” His wife fussed as she handed you a hot chocolate. 

The steam wasn’t the cause of the flush of your cheeks.  

“I’m sorry. I was really angry and didn’t think,” you lowered your head. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I really don’t mind you both being here; it was honestly just a shock.”

Seokjin and his wife nodded in understanding. Neither of their feelings had been hurt–they were more upset at the fact that you had been so careless. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you beforehand. That was wrong of me.” He frowned and pouted. 

You smiled at your husband and kissed him on his cheek.

“All is forgiven. Besides,” you grin and hold up the mug. “She makes a mean hot cocoa.”

“I make it with dark chocolate cocoa powder instead of milk chocolate,” his wife informed you, a bit of proudness in her voice. 

Seokjin laughs and kisses his wife before settling down on the couch with each other. Jungkook and you mimic their actions on the other side of them.  

Now that you were out of the danger of the storm, you could see through the window how beautiful the blizzard was. It was like a painting of white snow against a background of forlorn trees in the darkness. 

“This weather makes me cold but being with you makes me feel warm inside.”

“You’re so cheesy…but…They say to watch the snow falling with someone is a sign of love….and I couldn’t agree more.”

Seokjin and his wife laughed, her head falling into his shoulder as she tried to hide her giggles.

“What’s so funny, old man?” “Yah! You have no reason to be calling me old! I’m not the one saying things like that!”

“Saying those kinds of things turns a woman on. I don’t recall hearing you getting it on when we first got here!” “Jeon Jungkook!”

Warmth crept up your face as you remember the dicking in the hall Jungkook was giving you before Seokjin and his wife showed up, starting the process of stomping off.  

The banter between the two men continued even when the mugs of hot chocolate had been downed and the fire had to be poked and refilled. Even when the storm was starting to calm down and you could see the gorgeous aftermath of it all.  

You realized how silly you had been to think that you could enjoy this cabin and view only to yourselves.  Okay, maybe you hadn’t been too silly. Who really plans a honeymoon with another married couple? Only your husband.  

Of course, you would have to come up with ways to have sex without the older couple hearing your loud moans.  But, there were definitely other activities that you had wanted to partake in that with only two people would have been vastly boring.  Snow fights, building snowmen, drinking hot cocoa, and watching movies by the fire….

“Hey, since we’re all still awake, you guys want to watch a movie?”

Jungkook and Seokjin halted their neverending teasing to say yes. Seokjin’s wife helped you find a movie, The Santa Claus, and made more hot cocoa and put some marshmallows into a bowl for a snack. 

You scooted closer to Jungkook under the blanket and laid your head on his shoulder.  He kissed your forehead before settling into the couch more. 

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

[chucklumn]

Winterfield AU is post-RE8 when Rose grows up a smart, strong, and independent woman.

Since she was a teenager, she has been military trained by Chris and Hound Wolf Squad. She has a strong connection with them, especially Chris because he has been supporting her for half of her life which Ethan asked him to watch over her before he died. Rose is also working as a scientist studying the genome. She is so curious about her father, Ethan who had sacrificed himself to save her. All of the stories about him that she heard from Chris and her mom Mia, are not enough for her to understand. She always wishes that she could meet him again, to tell him her stories. Growing up her life with Chris, she slowly realizes the feeling and love from Chris for Ethan. The sadness and guilty in his voice and mind when he tells her stories about her father. One day, she asks Chris if he has a wish, what will he wish for? After being lost in his mind for a while, the answer is 'I want to meet Ethan again'.

With that desire, She is secretly and privately working on her own project, to bring her father back to life by studying his DNA.

The moment Rose reveals her project to Chris, she sees him standing in front of the big fluid tank, inside it, he can see Ethan is breathing steadily and sleeping safe and sound. His body curves into itself makes him so small and delicate. He is so lively, normal and beautiful.

It's the first time Rose sees Chris bursting into tears like a child.

Gosh, please spare me, I'm so craving for more Winterfield fics and this idea just jump into my mind. English is not even my major language. Somebody help!

[evieonic]

I'm Not Going To Lose You (Winterfield - Chris Redfield/Ethan Winters Fluff fic)

This is a prompt that I saw on here written by @re8-has-taken-me-over (you should 100% go follow them btw, they seem like such a lovely person) and I asked permission before writing this and they gave me permission so this is what I came up with! @re8-has-taken-me-over, I hope you like it! ^^

This story is both readable here and on ao3. Either option works, it's whatever you prefer! Click to keep reading if you want to read it here.

I'm Not Going To Lose You (Published:  05/27/2021)

Pairing: Chris Redfield x Ethan Winters

Fandom: Resident Evil 8

Trigger Warning: None.

Length: 3492 Words, 1 Chapter. Completed.

Summary: “Chris…,” Ethan said again, stopping in his tracks, forcing Chris to look at him. “I don’t think I can keep going.”

“No, you can,” Chris insisted, “you have to."

Ethan only tried to push Rose into his arms again, his eyes beginning to tear up. He needed Chris to run so they both could survive. If they both survived, then he could die happy. "You both need to survive, okay? There’s no time to argue about this so you should just-”

Before Ethan could even finish his words, Chris wrapped a hand around the back of his head, his gloved fingers lacing with his hair while the other hand pushed the baby further into his grasp. Ethan didn’t have time to question the movement because the next thing he knew, Chris’s lips were on his own. His eyes widened as Chris pushed him further into the kiss, deepening it as his eyes slowly fluttered closed.

The kiss was warm and sweet, gentle and loving, it was everything he could ever want. It was short, too. Chris pulled away before he had a chance to kiss back.

“I’m not going to lose you." Chris said, "Not again.”

“Ethan, get up!” A voice called to him. Footsteps ran up to his side but it was too late. Ethan had already dropped to his knees, slowly losing his will to stand. He had been fighting for so long to save his little girl, his precious daughter, Rosemary, without a moment’s rest. He barely had the energy to cradle her in his arms.

“Ethan,” The same voice said again, hurried and full of concern. An arm was wrapped around his shoulders, “Ethan, can you get up? You have to stand.”

Ethan looked up at the owner of the voice, his heart warming at the sight of Chris and his gentle blue eyes. Chris had been there with him through everything. When Mia died after giving birth to Rose eight months ago, he helped him through the grief, even going as far to occasionally stay over and help him raise the baby. He owed him everything, even though Chris had originally, during this whole mission, refused to tell him anything, only making him think that Chris betrayed him.

But he never doubted him. Not really. He knew Chris would never hurt him. He trusted him and knew that he wasn’t that type of person. He was much more of a protector than a fighter.

That’s what he loved about him.

“Chris… why are you here?” He asked. Maybe that was a stupid question. He already knew that Chris was here to deal with Miranda and her fucked up antics.

“To save you, idiot,” Chris said, his voice soft. He looked panicked and Ethan knew why. The battle still wasn’t done. He sighed, glancing at the black mold creature slowly rising again to attack. “Ethan, listen to me. You did it. You finished it.”

“I think we finished each other,” Ethan said, feeling an overwhelming ache take over his body. He was done. He couldn’t do any more.

Chris shook his head, “no. You’re fine, you’re going to be okay. But you have to stand for me, okay?”

Ethan slowly lifted his head, each movement stiff and heavy. He looked into Chris’s gentle, worried eyes. He would have to stand. At least for him. For Rosemary. He slowly nodded his head and carefully moved his legs out so he could get up, each movement slow and painful. Chris however helped him, wrapping his arm around his back, throwing the arm Ethan wasn’t using to hold Rosemary over his own shoulder and lifted him to his feet.

Chris helped him turn, immediately guiding him to the plane, dragging him along with him. He softly whispered to him all kinds of encouraging words, “you can do it, it’s not that much further. You’re going to make it, just keep going.”

It warmed his heart. But Ethan knew he wasn’t going to survive. He was already too far gone. “Chris…”

“Come on, keep going, you’re so close, Ethan.”

“Chris…,” Ethan said again, stopping in his tracks, forcing Chris to look at him. “I don’t think I can keep going.”

“No, you can,” Chris insisted, “you have to.”

Ethan weakly shook his head. “Please, Chris, I’ll just slow you down,” he said, gently shifting his arm, trying to make Chris take the baby, “take her and run, okay? You both need to survive.”

“No,” Chris shook his head, his eyes widened, “no, we’re going to survive, all three of us, okay?”

Ethan only tried to push Rose into his arms again, his eyes beginning to tear up. He needed Chris to run so they both could survive. If they both survived, then he could die happy. “Please, just go. It’s okay. You need to survive,” Ethan said, his hand naturally falling onto Chris’ cheek, his thumb gently rubbing the bone underneath. He never got to tell Chris how over the years, when he was helping him raise his daughter, helping him move on with his life, he had begun to fall in love with him.

He had just discovered his true feelings not long before this all began and… he would never get to tell him. But that was okay. As long as he was alive and well, he could be happy. “You both need to survive, okay? There’s no time to argue about this so you should just-”

Before Ethan could even finish his words, Chris wrapped a hand around the back of his head, his gloved fingers lacing with his hair while the other hand pushed the baby further into his grasp. Ethan didn’t have time to question the movement because the next thing he knew, Chris’s lips were on his own. His eyes widened as Chris pushed him further into the kiss, deepening it as his eyes slowly fluttered closed.

He couldn’t believe what was happening right now but he might as well not be surprised. So many crazy things have been happening in such a short span of time, he wouldn’t be surprised if this was all a dream.

But he truly hoped it wasn’t. The kiss was warm and sweet, gentle and loving, it was everything he could ever want. It was short, too. Chris pulled away before he had a chance to kiss back.

“Chris-” Ethan began but Chris cut him off again by suddenly wrapping an arm behind his back, the other one going underneath his legs to lift him up - bridal style - in his arms.

“I’m not going to lose you. Not again,” Chris said, “so don’t worry about walking anymore. Just hold onto Rosemary, I’ll get us there.”

Ethan gasped as Chris started running, carrying all of his weight with such ease. Ethan did as he asked and tightened his arms around the baby while Chris got them to safety. He felt his heartbeat quicken at the very idea of Chris trying so hard to save him but it was mostly beating so fast because of what just happened a few seconds ago.

He had never thought that Chris would kiss him or potentially like him back.

“Chris…,” He began. Now wasn’t the time to talk about it, he knew but he really needed some answered questions.

“Not now, running,” Chris said firmly, “we need to get far away before I blow that thing sky-high.”

“But Chris, that-”

“Not now, Ethan!”

Ethan fell silent at that and just let the man carry him. He carefully held Rose tighter to his chest, keeping her secure while he leaned his head onto Chris’s neck. He felt so useless being carried like this but at least he could try to feel like he was supporting Chris by being near him.

It was only a few seconds later that they were all in the helicopter. Chris immediately sat Ethan down into a seat, rushing to buckle him in and then went to start the plane. Ethan could do nothing but watch him, staring at him expectantly. He wanted to help him somehow even though he knew there was barely anything he could do right now with how weak and exhausted he was.

Chris seemed to understand that too. He said nothing to him, only giving him gentle glances, soft small smiles here and there as he started the plane, getting it into flight and as soon as they were high enough, it was finally time to finish the job. Chris pulled out the trigger for the bomb, immediately setting it off. “Hold tight!” he said as soon as he pressed it.

Ethan quickly held Rosemary close to him, grabbing hold of his seat as the plane shook from the shockwave of the explosion. Ethan gasped as he nearly slid out of his seat, Chris quickly getting out of his own to help stabilize him by holding him close. It was only a second before the shockwave passed, leaving the two of them steady and safe .

Ethan looked up, his eyes meeting Chris’s, their noses touching. He was so close that if Ethan leaned up just a little, he could kiss him again. But he couldn’t. Not just yet. They needed to talk about the first one before they could do it again.

Silence enveloped them as they only stared at each other, panting slightly as the adrenaline rush slowly ebbed away. Chris glanced up and down over Ethan, as if checking to make sure he was okay before moving to his feet and returned to pilot the plane. Ethan watched his every move, wondering how to even begin discussing their future, the next step and what happened moments ago.

Ethan could still feel the warmth from the kiss Chris gave him earlier. He didn’t even know how to begin. He had never even noticed Chris having feelings for him! He always thought the big soldier was just trying to help. He never thought that he could maybe like him back. Ethan mentally slapped himself as he ran a hand over his face. He felt like he was in high school again, confessing to his crush. How annoying.

He cleared his throat. It was now or never, “Chris…”

“Yes?"

“Can we talk about what happened earlier?”

Chris fell silent for a second before saying, “you mean with all the dying?”

“No, after that,” Ethan said, chuckling slightly.

He could see Chris smile for a split second at his own poor attempt of avoiding the talk they needed to have but then it vanished and he reached over, putting the plane on autopilot. He got out of his seat before walking over to Ethan, kneeling down in front of him. “Yes. We can.”

Ethan nodded. So now they were talking about it. The problem is, he didn’t know what to say next. He didn’t know where to begin. He cleared his throat again. “So…,” he started awkwardly, “why did you… you know?”

Chris stared at him for a moment as if he was trying to formulate his thoughts. “Well, you were trying to give up on me and I wasn’t going to let you do that.”

“Was it just to motivate me?”

“No.”

“Then why else?”

Chris smiled at that, “do you really need me to spell it out for you?”

Ethan’s eyes widened at that, his heart beating a little faster. “So you mean you…”

“It was kind of hard not to see how you were getting feelings for me, Ethan,” Chris said, causing Ethan to scoff and look away, a blush forming on his cheeks. “And to be honest with you, I’m surprised you never saw how I felt the same way. I was waiting for a good moment to tell you and, well, ask you out but then things sort of went to hell.” He chuckled slightly, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. So he had planned to tell him not too long ago.

“So you… I can take this as you like me back and you know that I like you too, right?” Ethan asked, just to be sure.

“Yes,” Chris nodded, “that’s exactly how I want you to take it, to be honest.”

“Good…,” Ethan smiled, “good. So then… What does this mean? What do we do now?”

“Well, it can mean whatever you want it to mean,” Chris said, shifting a little bit closer to him. “It can mean we’re together now and we can start dating or we can just have our feelings be out there in the open and figure it out when things calm down… we can do whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

Ethan couldn’t help but gently take a hold of Chris’s face at that and guide him to his lips to kiss him once more, this time finally able to kiss back. That was one of the things that Ethan loved so much about Chris. He was so selfless.

Chris reacted instantly, leaning forward so he could wrap his arms around Ethan’s back, using his weight to keep him and Rose secure in his embrace. He pulled Ethan close to him, one hand threading through his hair while the other was firmly on his back. Ethan’s hands slid from the sides of Chris’s face to draping over his shoulders, wrapping his arms around his neck.

He didn’t want to just leave the feelings out in the open. He didn’t want to wait until things calmed down. He wanted to be with him and be happy and safe for once.

That’s all he wanted…

.

.

.

.

“Dad! Can you tell me what year it was that World War 2 began?”

Chris had wanted the exact same thing as Ethan.

“Depends, which dad are you asking, the one that failed history or the one loved it but forgot everything by the time college came?” He said, calling to the living room where their now 11 year old daughter was sitting on the couch, trying to do her history homework.

Ethan chuckled, sipping at his coffee with his other hand laced with Chris’s. He watched as his husband smiled at his own tricky answer. Rosemary had no idea which one was which.

“Whichever one knows exactly what I’m talking about!” She called back, her reply snarky. Ethan honestly didn’t know where she got the sass from but he most definitely blamed Chris.

“Okay, okay,” Ethan said, “It was 2012.”

“Dad-eef!” She snapped at him, giving him one of those teenage death glares that the kids had these days. He chuckled at the nickname. It’s what she called him back when she was a baby. She could never pronounce ‘daddy’ really well so the nickname ‘dad-eef’ stuck.

“Alright,” he sighed, “It was 1939. Promise it’s true.”

“Are you sure? I’m not asking the dad who failed history, am I?” She said, a playful tone in her voice as she wrote the answer down.

Ethan laughed, standing up to put his mug into the sink before gently kissing his husband on the forehead. “Nope, I'm afraid that’s your other father.”

“You weren’t supposed to tell,” Chris said, smiling with so much adoration in his eyes, it always blew Ethan away. It had been a long time since the events at the village and all was well for the now, the three of them living peacefully in their home in southern Iowa in America. Chris has long since retired from the BSAA and Ethan was still happily working as a mechanical engineer. Ever since they came back home, the relationship between them was awkward but it quickly grew into what it was now. Hell, it took only two years of dating before the two of them got married.

“Well, she needs to know who is a credible source here,” Ethan said with a grin. He peered outside the window, “Rose, it looks like Annette is here.”

“Oh!” She gasped, immediately packing up her schoolwork, “I forgot all about that.”

“You make sure you study when you get back, okay?” Ethan said a little firmly. He wasn’t a strict parent at all when it came to school, but he didn’t want Rose to let her work slide. School was important to a certain degree.

Rose sighed, “yes, yes, I know, I will. I’ll be back probably around six.”

“Six?” Chris grumbled, “I don’t know if I approve of my daughter staying out that late on a date. You should be back around five.”

“But it’s already four!”

“Exactly. Sounds reasonable to me,” Chris mumbled. Ethan laughed, gently caressing his cheek to make him smile back at him.

“Rose, don’t worry about it, try to be back at least around eight, okay? Eight is the latest.” Ethan said.

“Okay, dad-eef, will do,” She said, hoisting her backpack over her shoulder and heading to the door, “and it’s not a date!”

“Too late, you didn’t deny it earlier!” Ethan called back, only to hear her let out a little embarrassed shriek.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Bye dads, love you!” She said, already out the door before she could hear them call back, “love you too!”

Ethan laughed as he watched her go to the car through the window. “She likes her.”

“I know,” Chris said, getting up from his place at the table, “I don’t like it.”

“Why not? Annette is a sweet girl,” Ethan smiled. He’s met Annette and her family only a few times, but she always struck him as a really polite girl. If his daughter ever did choose to date her, he would definitely be happy with her choice.

“Yes but I still don’t like it. Before you know it, the two of them will want to get married and move out and bleeh,” he said, an annoyed look on his face that did nothing but make Ethan laugh. He knew that Chris really didn’t have a problem with Annette and he actually approved of Rosemary’s choice quite a bit. But he was still a dad and dads tended to be overprotective.

Chris became a rather overprotective dad the day they got married and Ethan never got upset about that fact. He loved how quick Chris was to take Rosemary under his wing and treat her like she was his own.

He was such a good dad.

He needed to be told that more often.

“You’re a good father,” Ethan said, smiling gently at him. His words were so soft, it made Chris stop in his tracks to the sink and immediately look at him.

“A-Am I?” he stammered awkwardly, smiling back at him, “I doubt I’m anywhere as good as you. You have so much experience on me.”

“Maybe,” Ethan admitted that he did. He had been raising Rosemary a lot longer than Chris had. “But even so, you really fell into the role pretty easily. And you do such a good job at it. You treat her as if she’s your own daughter and I can’t tell you how special that is to her… to me.”

Chris’s eyes softened as Ethan slowly approached him, his hand returning to the side of his face, gently cradling his face. Chris smiled, leaning into the warmth of his palm before taking a hold of it just so he could kiss him, right on the center of his life lines. “Of course,” he said, “why wouldn’t I? She’s a good kid and I’m proud of being her father or well, her other father.”

“I’m proud too,” Ethan smiled, wrapping his arms loosely around Chris’s neck, “you’re a wonderful father and husband… how could I not be?"

Chris’s face faltered for a second. It wasn’t rare that they had sweet moments like these, it’s just it blew Chris away every single time. Ethan already knew it did so he smiled more sweetly at his husband before he placed a kiss on his lips.

Chris kissed him back before his husband pulled away, his smile mischievous now.

“You know your daughter won’t be back for quite some time now,” he said.

Chris could practically see the wheels turning in his head. He knew exactly what he was trying to hint at. “And?” he smirked, teasing him, “what about it?”

“Oh come on, you know exactly what I’m trying to say,” Ethan rolled his eyes but Chris continued his teasing.

“Oh you mean watching all the ghostbuster movies since she hates them so much? Or do you mean going out to the restaurant we’ve been wanting to try lately? Or do you mean…,” his smirk deepened, “doing something a little more indecent?”

Ethan blushed and shook his head, “see now I’m not so sure anymore.”

Chris laughed, wrapping his arms around his waist, “we can do whatever you want to do. I was just teasing you. I’m happy to do whatever you have in mind.”

“Are you really? Because now I’m not so sure.”

“Honest! I truly will be happy with whatever you want to do,” Chris chuckled, “you’re fun to tease, I couldn’t help it.”

“Yeah, I know, you always do that,” Ethan smiled, honestly not minding it at all. He’s gotten used to how much of a tease Chris was.

Chris smiled back at him, dipping his neck down so he could kiss Ethan. Ethan wrapped his arms tighter around his neck before pulling away, “I think you already know what I’d like to do.”

Chris kissed his forehead, a gentle look on his face as he took a hold of his hand, “I do,” he led him to the stairs which led to the second floor where the bedrooms were - specifically, their own, “let’s get to work then. Who knows when Rosemary will be back.”

Ethan chuckled as his foot met the steps, “well then I guess we can have as much fun as we want until she gets back.”

Chris laughed at that and the two of them went up the stairs, going to their room to do their own personal activities, the whole time feeling loved and at peace with each other. Things were well now. And they were always going to be well.

Because they had each other.

[maxineswritingcenter]

Bray Road - Fox Mulder x non!binary reader - part 8

---------------

Mulder pulled (Y/N) behind him as Winterfield approached. 

“I was going to bring you that buffoon of a sheriff as your first kill, but...” He grinned, sharp teeth appearing in his smile, “I suppose this works.” Mulder pulled his gun, aiming to towards the mad doctor. 

Suddenly, their stomach lurched. They turned away, puking up what felt like everything they’ve ever eaten. They moaned in pain, holding their stomach. When they inspected the puke, they backed away, seeing that their bile was tinged pink with blood. 

“What did you do to them!” He shouted. 

“Unfortunately, in all of my trials of turning my army, I have come to a conclusion. The DEA will leave their system very quickly and they can get away. However, when I give them the added poison, that...that brings them back to me. The bite cures all.” 

(Y/N) coughed, wet and painful sounding. They fell to their knees, their body jerking with each cough. Mulder went down besides them, seeing the blood splattered from each cough. 

“It’s already too late, Agent Mulder. If you want your partner to survive they must receive the bite. It is their only chance.” Winterfield turned away from them, staring up at the moon, hunching over and beginning to turn.

“Mulder.” They gasped, “You gotta get out of here.” 

“I’m not leaving you here.” He said, keeping an eye on. 

“I’m gonna die.” They gripped onto his shirt sleeve, blood staining where their fingers touched, “I can’t be the reason you die too. Please.” Mulder squeezed his eyes shut. 

“Alright, Winterfield. You got your wish.” He opened his eyes, holstering his gun and pulling (Y/N) to their feet, “Save them.” Mulder and (Y/N) stared at the beast. He was down on all fours and looked exactly like the descriptions. The size of a bear, but the body of a wolf. His eyes blazing red. 

“I knew you would see things my way.” The beast growled. 

“What are you doing?” (Y/N) started to panic. They tried to move away from Mulder but he had grabbed them by their arm and held it out. He wrapped his arm around their middle. 

“Mulder no!” They cried, “MULDER!” They watched as Winterfield’s awaiting jaws came closer. (Y/N) pulled at his fingers, scratching even. 

“FOX!” (Y/N) screamed, “No! No no-” They were cut off by a watery huk of blood. Standing before the beast, Mulder grabbed their free hand that was attempting to loosen his grip and pulled it to his side, hitting the cool plastic of his gun holster. The beast’s mouth opened wide, ready to claim their arm in his mouth. 

(Y/N) voice trembled, “This...is for them.” They brought Mulder’s gun up and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through Winterfield’s open mouth and opened the back of his head. Blood splattered over the walls of the cave and on the agents, the beast fell. Before their eyes, they watched the beast slowly shift back into a man.

It was finally over. The man who had haunted their life, looming over their shoulders was gone. 

“It’s finally over.” They let out a long needed sigh of relief. Their knees gave out, bringing them down to the ground, their vision growing dark. 

“Mulder...I’m going home.” They hummed. He kneeled in front of them, holding them up by their cheeks.

“No, no you’re not. We still have to get your statement, we have to prove that he was the beast. We have the evidence to expose the truth.” He tapped their face, “Come on, open those eyes. Please, this can’t be the last time I see them.” Mulder begged. The last things they heard was the echo of Mulder’s voice calling their name as they slipped away. 

- 

Assistant director Skinner looked up at the agents from the report that he had been handed in.

"So your official statement is that Dr. Lyle Winterfield was comiting these killings under psychosis that he was a werewolf. Clinical lycanthropy."

Mulder nodded, "Yes, sir."

“And you shot him in self-defense.” Mulder nodded. AD Skinner turned to the other agent. 

“How are you feeling, Agent (Y/L/N).” 

(Y/N) took a deep breath, grateful they were able to breathe at all, “I’m well, sir. Thank you.”

“But you know that lying is a punishable offense. You were involved in this XFile, putting yourself and Agent Mulder in danger. This isn’t something I can ignore.” And there it was, the beginning of the end. 

“I know, sir. And I apologize to you and Agent Mulder for that. I just... I had to find the truth.” They said sincerely. Mulder looked at them out of the corner of his eye, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

“There will be a board meeting about your status going forward. For now, you’re excused for the rest of this week. Your personal travel papers were approved for the funeral. My condolences.” 

They nodded, “Thank you, sir.” 

“You’re both dismissed.”

- 

The funeral was different than it had been the first time. The whole sheriff’s department showed up, hospital staff, nearly everyone in town. Linda Godfrey also showed up, only telling people she told them so a little. The town had decided to keep it a secret, but to keep the tourism alive they decided to make up stories that would continue to bring in paranormal investigators and those searching for the truth... just like they had been, just like Mulder.

They stayed at the cemetery, long after the crowd had gone. (Y/N) stared at the turned up soil where they had to rebury their parents. They stood, fiddling with their hands. 

“I want to thank you.” (Y/N) said to the air, “You knew something was wrong and took me away from that psycho before he could make me like him.” They teared up a little, “I just wish there was a different way home.” The crushing of the grass made them quickly wipe away their tears and turn. It was Mulder with two bouquets of flowers. 

“Mulder, what are you doing here?” 

“I’m your partner, I came to pay my respects, see you through this.” He kneeled down and placed the flowers against each grave stone. 

“I’m not your partner anymore. Hell, I’m not even sure if I’m an agent anymore.” They shook their head, “This was all I had left. I was helping people the best way I could and now I can’t even do that.” 

“About that.” Mulder stood, “I had a little meeting with Skinner and it’s all taken care of.” 

They stared at him, wide eyed, “What?” 

“I explained that because of your involvement we could bring Winterfield out of hiding and we could close the Xfile. He agreed, but you are being reassigned.” 

They grinned, “I could reassigned for janitor duty for all I care, this is great!”

“I don’t know.” He said, “I think you’re gonna hate it.” 

“Where is it? Violent crimes? Missing persons?” 

“Nope.” 

“Come on, Mulder, don’t mess with me.” They shoved his shoulder playfully. 

“You’ve been assigned to the xfiles. You’re stuck in the basement with me.” 

They chewed the inside of their cheek before saying: “Until Scully gets back?” 

He shook his head, “Nope.” 

Their chest burst with happiness. Not only does (Y/N) get to keep their job, they also get to stay with Mulder. They grinned, hugging Mulder tightly. He hugged them back, giving them a small squeeze. They pulled away slightly, looking up at him. His green eyes sparkled and his smile was everything. 

He leaned down slowly, giving them plenty of time to pull away, and pressed a light kiss to the corner of their mouth. He pulled away quickly, seeing their shocked expression. 

“I’m sorry, that was too forward of me-” (Y/N) cut him off with their lips on his. And that’s how it all began, their journey to becoming a special agent and Mx. Mulder.

-------------

My first XFiles fic! Yay! I have another one planned with Krycek but I’m not sure when that was going to happen. It’s a bit of self indulgence fic so I am not sure when I’ll have the details. 

Thank you all for reading!

Taglist:

- @theres-a-dog-outside-omg

- @nyotamalfoy

- @bi-andready-tocry

[maxineswritingcenter]

Bray Road - Fox Mulder x non binary!reader part 6

Fic Drop 2021

- 

Mulder just finished speaking with the Sheriff when he spotted his partner. (Y/N) looked so tired. They were holding their head in their hands and had been like that ever since the boys in blue zipped up the body bags for Jason, his mother, and the other patient that had been attacked. He walked to them slowly and placed a hand on their shoulder. 

“You alright?” He asked. (Y/N) took a deep breath and looked up. 

“I don’t know. I know everything that happened was real, but it feels...I never thought that I would experience that again.” They shrugged, “On the bright side, the cops believed my story this time.” 

Mulder smiled a little and nodded towards the car, “C’mon, let’s head back to the motel.” They stood and the two began walking towards the rental car. 

“What about Winterfield?” 

“Cops are going to search the office now to find evidence of the albuterol and anything related to the DEA. The courthouse is going to have a search warrant by the morning.” 

“Mulder.” They said as Mulder started opening his door, “The full moon is tomorrow.” 

He paused for a moment and looked up in the dark sky and saw the moon was almost full. He looked back at his partner, “We’ll get him. I promise.” 

- 

The next morning, both agents made their way to the pediatrician’s office where there was already a search in place. They met with the sheriff as he was walking out. 

“Agents,” He greeted them, “We found some research regarding the albuterol in a safe in the crawl space.” He handed some of the paper work to (Y/N). They looked them over. 

“It’s like the scrawling of a mad man.” The sheriff said, "Talking about rituals and turning the weak into warriors. As far as we know, there are two other kids in the reports. Both of which were killed in the last attack. According to their parents, they only used their inhalers for emergencies or not at all.” 

“So the DEA was never able to take hold in their systems.” Mulder concluded, "That also means that Winterfield was trying to make more of him."

"That seems to be the case," The sheriff looked back at (Y/N), who was still reading, their face paler than before. The writings from when they were a child were disturbing, describing their body in great detail and how they were perfect to create the master race of lycanthropes.

"We suspect that he's in hiding, but we believe that he's going to come back for you, Agent (Y/L/N)." They looked up at the sheriff's words.

"What?" Their heart dropped.

"We would like to place you under house arrest at your motel until we can apprehend Winterfield. You will be with the best big game hunter in the area, as well as two deputies." The sheriff motioned to the large camo wrapped pickup truck in the other end of the parking lot.

"I-...Right. of course." (Y/N) looked down at the ground. Their fingers gripping the paperwork.

Mulder took notice to their hesitation, "Sheriff, can you give us a minute?" The sheriff nodded and went to speak with the hunter in the truck.

"(Y/L/N), what is it?"

They finally looked up from the papers to Mulder. He seemed genuinely concerned about them. There was a calming sense about him that made them want to relax, but, in this situation, it was nearly impossible.

"I understand why I need to be under lock and key, I do. But I don't feel right about not going after him too." They felt tears burn at their eyes. They were so emotionally exhausted after years of fear just culminating to this moment and they wouldn't get the resolve they wanted.

"Is this about your parents?" He asked.

They glanced at this eyes again, then stared back at his tie, "Partially."

"Aw, you're not worried about me, are ya?" He chuckled.

They met his eyes again, so green and full of determination. It's what (Y/N) liked about him. Fox Mulder may have been known around the bureau as Spooky Mulder, but no one saw the passion. All they saw were the Xfiles. And (Y/N) thought Mulder liked to keep it that way. He had been ridiculed his entire career. But he believed the weird, he believed the strange.

"Skinner didn't assign you as my partner," They blurted out without thinking much. But the fuel was already in the fire, they had to elaborate, "I made up the case file. I kept it secret from my friends at the office because I didn't want them to treat me like I was a joke. I took the case to Skinner and asked to be your partner. I knew you would take it seriously. I knew you would believe me." (Y/N) placed a hand on his arm and smiled weakly, "Please be careful. I don't want to lose anyone else." Before Mulder could speak, he watched (Y/L/N) make their way to the camo truck to speak with the big game hunter and the sheriff.

-

At the motel, they had been given a box of evidence from Winterfield's home to look through. The big game hunter, Rodger, was in the corner of the room facing the door, cleaning the silver bullets he had been given to him from the local jeweler in town. He was an interesting looking guy, the was tall and lean. But his hair was styled so one side of his head was shaved to the skin, 3 long pink scars ran from his crown to his temple.

He noticed their staring and nodded, "Bear."

"Excuse me?"

He pointed to the scars, "Grizzly in Alberta. Probably stood about twelve feet tall. Smacked me right here but I put three slugs between it's eyes. So I can handle your werewolf just fine." He loaded to shells into his shotgun.

"Bears act on instinct. When they feel their family or their territory is threatened they attack. This werewolf thinks just as well as he does as a human." They looked out the window and saw the sun lower in the sky, making their stomach feel like there was a sack of rocks pulling them down.

"You have nothing to worry about, uh...what are your uhh..."

"It's Agent."

-

The search in the woods around Winterfield's house wasn't showing any sign that he had been there recently. But what they did find was a body. In the basement of his home they found a decaying body shackled to the wall, almost mummified. But the anatomy was inhuman.

Mulder looked was looking over a map of the area that they had already searched, needing to use a flashlight now that darkness was setting in. He looked up when he saw the coroner, Dr. Sherman, making her way towards him and taking her gloves off.

"I've seen a lot of weird things, but nothing as crazy as that." She said.

"How so?"

"Well, when the guy died his bones had grown so much that they were splintering. His teeth were so large they cracked his jawbone. He died in a lot of pain." She said.

"Any similarities to the Mulligan boy?" The sheriff, who had walked up behind Mulder asked.

"Sort of. There were signs of the splintering and the cracks in the jaw but they had healed almost instantaneously. But I'm sure when the lab comes back with the results, they'll show DEA like you said, agent Mulder."

"Any luck?" He turned back to the sheriff.

"None. The dogs can't pick up a damn thing. And the tracks we saw lead off into the woods disappeared about a mile in."

Before Mulder could speak, his mobile phone started going off in his pocket.

"Excuse me," He said, stepping away from the group and standing by his car before answering, "Mulder."

"So we found some info on Winterfield." Frohike began, "Or lack of info."

"I couldn't find any family history on him. That is, until I found these articles from the sixties." Byers said, "His name was Lyle Montgomery. And when he was fourteen he went missing for a month in northern Michigan and when he was found, he was covered in blood but completely unharmed."

"There's another news article a month later from the same area saying that an entire family but one was mauled by a bear. The survivor was relocated, but we can't tell where because the adoption was closed." Langley chimed in, "But it was around the same time that we found the yearbook for Elkhorn high school showing their star quarterback."

"Winterfield." Mulder answered, "Thanks guys."

"You got it, Gunmen out." Frohike signed off and the line went dead.

As Mulder walked back to the group his phone rang again, he answered, "Mulder."

"Hey Fox, I think that uh we're not gonna find this guy. He outsmarted us." (Y/L/N) said.

"When did we start on a first name basis, (Y/N)? And it's not over, we're gonna find him." He said, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion at his partner's use of his first name. Not even Scully called him by his first name.

"No, I think I'm just gonna go home ."

"We can't go now. What happened to you wanting to finally end this? To move on from all this?" He was closer to the sheriff and the coroner now, who gave him confused looks as well.

"Fox, I need to go back home." They said again, more sternly this time.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, "(Y/L/N), is he there?"

"Yeah, I just need to hurry up and get home." There voice shook then, "I've decided to leave the bureau and just go home." They took a deep breath, sounding a little choked up.

"Goodbye, Fox." The line went dead.

"We need to get to the motel right now, he's got (Y/L/N)." Mulder had barely gotten the phone back in his pocket before running with the sheriff to his truck and leading the department towards the motel.

-

(Y/N) hung up the phone, a shaky hand setting it back down on the receiver. They avoided looking in the corner of the room where the majority of Rodger was still in the corner. They looked back at Winterfield. His hands were larger than usual and covered in dark hair. His eyes glowed red. He was spattered in blood from the deputies that he been outside and the big game hunter.

"You know he doesn't believe me." They said.

"Oh I know." There was a gravel to his voice that made it sound more animal, "But he's gotta write something when the FBI starts asking where you are." He grabbed their arm with his massive hand and began dragging them out of the room through the broken doorway.

"Wait!" They shouted, "Let me grab my bag. It'll be more believable for the crime scene photos."

"Fine," Winterfield let go, "Hurry up." He seemed on edge, turning his head from side to side as if he could hear something coming. They went to the side of the bed where their bag laid, there was blood from the hunter on it. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw the silver bullets.

Winterfield began angry, "Come on!" He grabbed them by the back of their neck.

"My bag!"

"Screw the bag!" He growled, pulling them outside. In the distance, they both saw the red and blue lights flashing and the sirens screaming the distance.

-

The cars screeched to a stop, the entire sheriff's department pointing their guns. Mulder called to the others, "Don't shoot, he's got a hostage!"

Then Winterfield seemed to shift before his very eyes, growing a long snout and large animal like arms and legs, all covered in thick dark hair. Still standing on his hind legs, he grabbed (Y/N) by their middle and took off into the woods near the motel.

"MULDER!" They called back, their voice fading into the darkness.

"(Y/L/N)!" He called back, leading the department and the canine unit into the woods after Winterfield.

"Mulder!" Their voice was farther away now.

"(Y/L/N)!" He stopped when he no longer saw tracks, looking around for any signs, "(Y/L/N)!"

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