This short story was written for my own OTP fanfic challenge where I had to put my OTP into a world of fairy-tales. I hope you will like this unusual au. I am sure you will find out what world I put them into. Let me know what you think. Enjoy. English is not my first language so every single mistake is mine and I am sorry. I tried to translate the story from Czech and let me tell you it's a hell of a work. :D

The Dance

He blinked. He opened his eyes and then he closed them. The fear of what he will see when opening his eyes again to look at the world around weakened him. Was it real? Everything seemed to be so real. But how so? What really happened? He wasn't sure of anything. He wasn't even certain of his own heart beating and if his lungs were still accepting the oxygen from the room he was in right now. How did he get in here? If he had troubles with his own memory he wouldn't ask himself such questions but his memory and perception were so sharp after spending so many years working on the X Files. He wouldn't have to worry about this. So why did he question himself so hard?

He took all his courage and opened his eyes again. No, nothing changed. It was the right time to accept the reality just the way it appeared to him. He didn't move an inch but only looked around. The magnificence and richness of the room with the high ceiling took his breath away.

He stood motionless in one of the darker corner of the room that he just for himself named an assembly hall. In such a huge room there was almost no light due to all of the windows being covered with the branches of the trees that were growing in the garden. The only light that gave him the opportunity to explore the space were small candles. Their flames reflected off the walls and created moving shadows. When the wind grew stronger outside the air in the room turned into the small vortexes and they made the candle light move. In the middle of the room there was a long wooden table and according to the decoration it was also very old. Food that covered every single inch of the desk was almost falling down and it would feed the whole army if there was one. Pictures of for him unknown people were hanging on the walls. None of the faces seemed familiar. The floor was built from beautiful and shiny tiles.

"It's for the dancing balls for sure," Fox said and continued exploring the area around him. The whole room made him feel sad, it filled his heart with emptiness and melancholy. The breath of the past unpleasantly appeared and Fox shivered. He started to feel vulnerable and he had no idea where he was. He looked out the window and saw few more smaller buildings that together with the big hall created a huge castle. When he realized he was in an actual castle he opened his mouth in awe and wanted to put his hand in front of his mouth. This was the moment when everything started to rapidly change. He was quite ok only few moments ago. He thought that there was nothing else that could throw him off balance but what he saw it literally scared him. He immediately moved his hand back away from his mouth and went to one of the candles that gave him some light.

"Hair? Claws? What is going on?" he whispered and fear filled his eyes. He wanted to scream, he wanted to run outside and find the reason why this all was happening. He noticed a golden plate laying on the table. His shaking hands – if you could call them hands – took it and when he moved it up to be able to see his own reflection in it he was shocked.

"This must be a very bad dream," he whispered. Fox couldn't catch his breath and threw the plate to the ground angrily. At the moment when the plate hit the ground and the air filled with the thunderous sound a soft voice came out from one of the darker corners of the room.

"Ah, you scared me," the woman said while walking down the stairs. Fox turned around and when he saw the tiny figure of the person who was probably the only one who shared the castle with him he felt partially relieved.

"Dana," he said and he wanted to run towards her. When he realized how he looked like he stopped and instead of taking few steps closer to the woman he took few steps back to hide himself into one of the not well illuminated corners of the room.

"Do not come any closer," he screamed and managed to scare the woman even more. Fox didn't know what to do. He pressed his hairy body against the wall even tighter as if he tried to make himself invisible. He couldn't meet anyone when looking like that.

"Something is wrong? Did I do something I should? Did I again open a door which I wasn't allowed to go through?" Dana tried to defend herself.

"I don't want you to see me like this. I look terrible," with the pain in his voice Fox answered.

"I already saw you," Dana wasn't ready to give up. She walked down the stairs and stopped in the middle of the room where the moon light reached her beautiful face. Even though Fox wasn't able to think straight he couldn't miss this moment of seeing this small woman with red hair from whose face the beauty shone and it felt unnaturally calming. Perhaps she really saw him in this state of being otherwise he couldn't explain it. Would she be so calm if she just appeared from nowhere, just like him? He still didn't consider the possibility that he has been in the castle for some time and he only lost his memories.

"You said that tonight I can ask you for a favour and you will try to make my wish come true," Dana said and took few steps. She wanted to be closer to him but when a strong voice of resistance came out from the corner she stopped. It surprised her how he was acting this evening. She thought that after the last few days that they spent together that they got used to each other for him to no feel ashamed in front of her. She told him that she was okay with how he looked like several times. The thing that made him interesting for her wasn't his looks, it was something inside him, inside his heart. She wasn't able to describe it using words but the feelings that filled her heart always when they were spending the evening together were her favorites. The beauty's attitude and behavior partly convinced him that there was nothing to be afraid of. He straightened up and took few steps forward. He lowered his head and walked to the dim light. He wasn't entirely convinced if he wanted Dana to see his face.

"What is it you are asking for?" with a shaky voice he asked and waited for her answer. What if I can't grant her wish he thought. He didn't want to let her down but not keeping his promise. She must have already been disappointed by his looks and must have admitted that his behavior wasn't the best.

"I would like to dance. When I was at home I put my dance shoes and I was dancing all the night," she said her wish and her eyes were looking for his. This evening was the first one when their eyes met. She hoped to see his eyes color for at least a brief moment tonight.

"Dance? You want to dance with me?" surprisingly he asked.

"Yes, I want to dance with you," she answered and was waiting for one of his anger outbursts. She was nicely surprised when Fox came closer to her and stood right in front of her his hand touching hers. He put his second hand on her hip and pulled her closer with his eyes pointing to the ground. His heart was beating so rapidly that it almost jumped out of his chest. From the opposite side of the room a pleasant music started to fill the air. Dana let the moment totally engulf her and she let her dancing partner to lead her. They started to move into the rhythm of the music by taking slow and small steps. Fox tried to keep his distance from Dana but he had to admit to himself that there was something that drawn him closer to the woman he was dancing with right now. He so desperately wanted to look her in the eyes. He wished he could embrace her. If only she could turn their lives to where they were before all of this happened. Fox didn't understand what what was happening but he knew he couldn't do anything about it. He let his thoughts to take him away from the worries. Dana let go off his hand and she hugged him. She laid her head against his chest and listened to the beating sound of his heart. It was the only proof of life that kept her alive in this sad and completely abandoned castle. She felt calmer knowing that there was someone else whose heart was beating just the same as hers.

Fox finally raised his sight from the ground and looked at the little woman who he was holding in his arms. He realized that if she hasn't been there with him he would probably lost his mind. Dana felt the heaviness of his breath and knew that he was so deep in his thoughts again. She raised her head. She hoped to catch him unprepared to finally see his face in the light and look inside his eyes. He never allowed it before. Fox turned his face away from the woman's sight. Dana was ready to keep fighting this time. She gently stroked his cheek and touched his chin. She raised his head to make him look up. Their eyes met. He looked into the blue color of her eyes in which he could see his own reflection. He freaked out realizing how horrible he looked and how huge the pain he tried to hide in his eyes was.

A ring tone went off on his night stand. A mobile phone started to vibrate and the dull sounds woke him up. He sat up and searched for the switch to turn the lamp on and fill the dark room with some light. He needed to reasure himself that it was only a dream. He needed to make sure that he was in his own bed in his apartment. When the light filled the room a huge stone fell off of his heart. He took a deep breath feeling so relieved. On the other hand he had to admit that Scully looked really cute in his dream.

"Scully, you won't guess what I was just dreaming about!" he said to his co-worker before she could say a word. He knew it was her, who else would call him at 4am.

Her voice was soothing even at this early hour in the morning. Everything was just the way it was supposed to be.

"Take a note before you forget it. You can tell me later, now we have a case," Dana explained the nature of her call to Mulder. He knew where his partner was right now.

"I will be in the office in half an hour," he reassured her and hang up. At other times he would be angry that he had to get up so early and leave for work but he was feeling differently. After such a dream he was so happy that everything was back to normal. He was about to see his princess in a short moment. Before he left his apartment he looked into the mirror in his bathroom to reassure himself that he no longer had claws and hair and that his face looked normal. He smiled took the car keys and left the loft.

The End