Origins of the Shape
A birthday gift for my excellent friend, Shireheart. I hope you enjoyed this story as much as she did. Happy Birthday, Shireheart!
Disclaimer: Faria belongs to me. The X-Files and Wolf's Rain belong to their respective owners.
The drive back from the reservation was silent; both agents were lost in their own thoughts. Mulder kept his eyes on the road, his mind repeating the tribal elder's cryptic words over and over again.
See you in eighty years? What was he talking about? Does that thing- the Manitou- resurface every eighty years? If so, I won't be around to see it. Even if I'm alive, I'll be retired. Won't I?
Beside him, Scully sat slumped against the passenger seat window, her blue eyes staring at the night sky. Like Mulder, her mind was hard at work; unlike Mulder, she was trying to rationalize what she saw. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't erase the image of the snarling beast morphing back into a frightened young man on its death throes. The young woman sighed, rubbing her eyes. A good night's sleep, that as all she needed. Once she had a good rest, she would be able to come up with a reasonable explanation for what had occurred on the Parker ranch
"You okay?"
"Fine, Mulder," Scully muttered.
"You know that what you saw was real."
"Mulder-" Scully began.
"Scully, you saw it. You saw a beast transform into a boy with your own two eyes. Denying it won't make the images go away."
"Mulder, for the last time, there's… who's that?"
Mulder followed Scully's finger. Off to the right of the road was a young girl.
She was garbed in a brown robe and cloak, the hood lowered to reveal shoulder-length black hair. She was gazing at the approaching car, her expression calm and almost expectant. As the car slowed to a halt, her lips twisted upwards and her grey eyes gleamed with something akin to amusement.
Mulder left the headlights on as he and Scully slid from the car and approached the girl. She nodded at them.
"Hello, Agents Mulder and Scully."
"How do you know our names?" Scully asked, stopping short alongside her partner
"I've been waiting here for you."
"Who are you?" Mulder asked, his hand shifting towards his right hip where his gun was holstered.
"No need for weapons, Fox Mulder, I'm not going to hurt you." The girl chuckled at the expression on the man's face. "To answer your question, my name is Faria."
"Faria what?" The strange girl glanced at Scully.
"My last name would mean nothing to you. For all practical purposes, just call me Faria."
"Faria, then. You said you'd been waiting for us. Why?"
"I've come to show you the origins of the Manitou, of course."
"What?" Both agents' words were cut off as Faria held out a hand. In her palm, a ball of light appeared and blossomed upward, until it enveloped all three of them. Momentarily blinded, Mulder and Scully could only shield their eyes until the light vanished. Blinking rapidly, both agents received a huge shock.
The country road, the open grassy fields, the lush trees, they were all gone. Instead, Mulder, Scully, and Faria were standing inside an enormous hall pf gleaming ebony and polished crystal. At the head of a long table was a woman, dressed in long black robes and a head-dress. Her face was pale and lightly dusted with powder while her lips were painted such a dark shade of red, they looked almost black. The woman had the air of smug satisfaction about her, the kind of look Mulder and Scully recognized as the attitude possessed by people who believed they were above the law. Already, the two felt irked by the woman, but the woman didn't seem to see them or Faria. She continued to recline in her high-backed chair, her dark eyes roaming over the empty hall.
"Lady Jaguara, one of the last of three noble families," Faria explained. "And don't worry, she can't see us."
"Where are we?" Faria chuckled at Scully's question.
"In the past."
"The past? The past? Faria, if anything, this is the future. I don't recognize any of the technology powering the lights in this hall. Unless…"
"Mulder, please don't start."
"In this case, your partner is correct, Agent Mulder. Aliens have no place here. And as to how this is the past, you will understand soon enough."
At that moment, the doors behind Jaguara opened and a troop of black-clad servants approached the table. One servant uncorked a black bottle and poured a thick red liquid into the polished glass goblet in front of his mistress. Another servant lifted a covered tray to the table With one deft motion, the servant removed the silver lid, revealing a sizzling chunk of brown meat. The servant slid the meat to Jaguara's plate and backed away. Jaguara lifted her goblet and daintily sipped some of the thick liquid. Some of it ran down the side of her jaw, dripping down onto the white linen tablecloth.
"For the record, that's not wine." Scully felt her stomach twist.
"Please don't tell me-"
"It's blood," Faria confirmed. "Wolf's blood."
"If that's wolf blood, than is she eating…?"
"Very good, Agent Mulder. Yes, Lady Jaguara is determined to exterminate every last wolf in the world, consuming their flesh and drinking their blood."
"Why?"
"That's a long story, Agent Scully, and I don't have time to explain it all. But eating the meat of a wolf has rather horrific consequences."
Faria snapped her fingers and the scene changed. The beautiful hall vanished, as did Jaguara and her servants. This time, Mulder and Scully found themselves standing amidst the ruins of what had obviously been a large building. Tendrils of smoke drifted upwards and crows circled and cawed, swooping down to gorge themselves on the numerous human bodies that were scattered every which way. The snow beneath their feet crunched as the two agents circled, taking in the horrific scene with wide eyes.
"Oh, God What happened here?"
"The world has ended and the last wolf is dying." Faria pointed a few feet away. Lying on the ground was the form of a huge white wolf. Even from a distance, Mulder and Scully could see that the animal was breathing, but its breaths were shallow. For some reason, Mulder felt tears prick his eyes at the sight and next to him, Scully's lips were trembling.
"Look." Both agents tore their eyes away from the prostrate creature to see a form struggling upwards from the ruins.
"Jaguara?" Scully asked, although it was clear that she needed no confirmation. The figure was clearly the noble lady, but the air of smug satisfaction had vanished. Her once lovely robes were tattered and torn, her headdress gone. Her long hair, once as black and shiny as Faria's, was burned and tangled. But worst of all was her face; Jaguara's features were contorted into a grimace of insanity the likes of which Mulder and Scully had never seen. Her teeth were bared in a feral grin, her lips stretching her cheeks to their fullest potential. Her dark eyes were suffused with blood, making them appear red. As the agents stared, Jaguara clawed at her face and threw back her head, letting loose with a howl that sounded more like a mad laugh than a primal call of the wild. Crouching down on all fours, gibbering and laughing, Jaguara fled away from the ruins.
"What happened to her?"
"Remember how I said that eating wolf meat has consequences?" Mulder's eyes widened as the truth hit home.
"Jaguara was the first Manitou!"
"Correct."
"But that's-"
"Scully, it makes sense. In fact, one of the ways you could become a werewolf was by eating meat killed by a wolf. If those legends were true, imagine what would happen if you took it a step further and ate the meat of the wolf itself?"
"I believe you've just seen what would happen with your own eyes."
"But you said the world has ended."
"In a matter of speaking, yes. But watch." Faria turned back to the white wolf again. Before the three pairs of eyes, the wolf shuddered and lay still. For a few moments, all was still. Then, small white and purple flowers bloomed from under the wolf's body. The sweet fragrance filled the air, the wind carrying numerous petals over the ruins and beyond. Where each petal touched the earth, lush green grass, thick, healthy trees, and pools of crystal water appeared. Soon, the gritty lifeless world was gone, replaced by a beautiful new world positively bursting with life. The twittering of birds filled the silent air and the warm sun shone out of a sapphire sky, but there was no sign of the white wolf or indeed of any humans.
"The world is renewed and soon, the human will appear again."
"And the wolves?" Scully found herself asking.
"Oh, they are around here, somewhere. After all, they are they ones who have the power to renew the world."
"Why wolves?"
"A good question, Agent Scully, but I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that question. You might as well ask why birds were given wings or why owls became the symbols of wisdom."
From the newly-formed forest, there came a familiar gibbering howl.
"Jaguara!"
"Indeed. She managed to avoid death due to the wolf's blood she'd ingested, but the blood has taken over her now. She is more beast than human."
"But according to the tribal elders, the Manitou was an evil spirit that could change a man into a beast."
"I can guarantee you that Jaguara is not spirit. Her own desire to create a paradise of her own and destroy those who could create a paradise on earth is what turned her into a monster. Now, she will spend the rest of her life as an insane beast."
"Then how does she pass on her condition? She doesn't have a disease; she gave this condition to herself"
"I think Agent Mulder already gave you the answer to that, Agent Scully."
The red-haired agent frowned, going over everything her partner had said. The answer hit her with all the force of an oncoming train.
"Any animal she kills that the new generation of humans get their hands on…"
"Correct."
"Can't you stop it?"
"I cannot. My job, you see, is to make sure Fate is kept in balance. If I destroyed Jaguara, there would be no Manitou and I believe that would alter the fate of your X-Files, Agent Mulder."
"Y-yeah. Yeah, it would."
"Forgive me for asking, but why did you show us this in the first place?"
"Come now, Agent Scully. Do you want more people to end p like Lyle Parker?"
"What?"
"I showed you the origin of the Manitou. Now you and Agent Mulder must use those knowledge to protect the future from these thankfully rare creatures. Good luck."
Faria held out her hand again and once more, the blinding light bloomed forth and the beautiful new world vanished.
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"Scully? Are you alright?" Scully blinked, rubbing her eyes.
"Mulder? What's going on?"
"We're back in the car." Her partner's dry answer caused Scully to sit up, causing her seat belt to lock. Jerking the leather strap, Scully's eyes took in the deserted night road, the cozy interior of the car, and absence of anything supernatural.
"Was I asleep?"
"If you were, so was I. But if that's the case, we had the same dream."
"Faria."
"Yeah, she's gone."
"If she was ever here," Scully muttered, Actually, she felt better. She still felt tired, which wasn't a surprise; she and Mulder had had a hard day. Maybe… maybe watching Lyle's transformation had simply been the result of a lack of sleep.
Mulder ignored his partner and started the car again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Scully remove her coat and turn it into a makeshift pillow as she leaned against her window. Mulder grinned; now he can plan how he was going to update the X-Files without any skepticism.
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The car roared away and the road was deserted once more. The moon emerged from behind a cloud, casting pearly rays onto the road. Faria stepped into the moonlight, sill smiling. Once again, a job well done.
"Are you satisfied?" she asked.
"Very. You did beautifully." From behind the girl stalked an enormous white wolf, his golden eyes following the road the car had taken. The wolf sat down next to Faria, his head level with the girl's shoulder.
"Do you think the experience will help them, Kiba?"
"I do. They are treading dangerous ground; they need to know that not everything can be explained through science or otherworldly interference. The worst monsters are those we create ourselves."
"Indeed they are." Kiba nudged Faria's shoulder.
"I believe it's time you went home, Faria. Your father will be eager to hear about your fine work." Faria grinned and wrapped her arms around the wolf's neck, resting her cheek against the soft fur.
"Thanks, Kiba. But what about you?"
"I must be off to guide a descendent of mine. Like those two humans, this wolf walks heavy with a great destiny."
"Good luck, then." Faria watched as Kiba walked away, eventually vanishing into thin air. She eyed the deserted road one more time.
"And good luck to you two, Agents Mulder and Scully." A gust of wind and the girl was no more.
She had other work to do tonight.