AN: There are three chapters left to this story so I will be posting all three chapters here within the next week. Please read my notes in the last chapter, and thanks for reading!

Chapter Thirty Six

They were in a large, grey open area with no apparent structures in place. Despite that they landed on what seemed to be hard ground, the Captain slamming the demon into it as they landed. In his rage he bellowed again, pummeling the demon against the rocky surface over and over again. Pflaster put up very little resistance but Daniel knew that it had to be a ploy, and continued to seize his momentary advantage. If he could finish him before he lost his powers he might still destroy the creature…

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Scully scrambled over to Mulder, who was on all fours, trying to get off the floor.

"What have I done?" he muttered, clearly distressed.

"It wasn't you, it was the demon," Scully said as she assisted him to sit on the bed. Then she went over to help Carolyn up and walked her over to sit on the bed as well.

"Daniel's hurt," Carolyn said and she seemed shaken.

"But he's a ghost, he'll be all right, won't he?" It hadn't really occurred to Scully that there was anything that could hurt the Captain. How do you hurt a ghost?

"I don't know," Carolyn said in a hushed voice.

Scully was shocked, but she looked away from Carolyn to check Mulder's head where it still oozed blood. "You're going to need stitches, and we have to check for a concussion," she told him.

He looked at her head where she was hit and gave her a look that said 'back at you'.

"Later, but first we have to help Danny."

"How?" Carolyn said.

Mulder expelled a deep breath because he hated to even suggest it, but he didn't know what else to do. "William. He has a special tie with him and maybe he can send me to him."

"You?"

"Hey! Someone has to help him."

"Where is Will?" Scully finally realized that the boy was missing.

"Daniel told him to run and hide if things got ugly," Carolyn murmured.

At that moment, the boy walked through the door, holding Melissa's hand, and with their touch, everyone could see Melissa.

"He's all right. Shaken up, but otherwise all right," she said as the boy let go of her hand and ran over and threw himself in his mother's arms.

They embraced, and Fox joined in a brief group hug until William pulled himself away.

"We have to help Uncle Danny, he's hurt. The evil thing wants to destroy him." He told his father in a serious voice.

"Oh, no," Carolyn was trying very hard not to cry.

William went over to stand before her. "You and Dad have to come with me, we can help him."

"How Will?" Mulder asked.

"We can give him…we can make him strong… he needs to be strong…and Aunt Carolyn can bring him back…but we need to go to him."

"What about me?" Scully said.

"Mom, you need to take care of us until we come back," William said as if explaining himself to another child. "Our bodies are here…but not us. You need to keep us safe."

"Oh?" She looked at Mulder who shrugged.

"You can take us to Uncle Danny?"

The boy nodded eagerly. "Yes, but we have to hurry, he's hurt…bad…."

"Dana, take care of us," Mulder gave his wife a quick kiss.

"Carolyn, are you sure you want to do this?" Scully asked her friend, already concerned about what would happen to the older woman if she lost her husband, if she actually watched him destroyed before her eyes.

"I have to, Dana, he wouldn't do any less for me," she whispered. "He's the other half of me. Do you understand?"

"More than you will ever know," she said and squeezed the older woman's hand while exchanging a bemused look with Mulder who had heard her words.

"We hafta go!" William wailed. He's getting hurt!"

"Okay, what do we do?" Mulder said.

"We all hold hands, close our eyes, and then you follow me," he said.

"Okay. Carolyn?" He extend his hand to her and they both took William in theirs. They closed their eyes and then to all appearances, completely collapsed.

Scully scrambled over to them, put them in a more comfortable position and was alarmed to find out that their pulse rates were thready, and that they were barely breathing. Except for William who seemed steady, but in more of a comatose state, which was a whole different set of medical problems. Damnit! She only hoped she could keep them all alive if it came to that.

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The tone of the battle had changed significantly. The demon had been playing dead and as soon as the Captain paused to collect himself the demon threw himself at the spirit full force, concentrating on exploiting the Captain's injury.

The Captain felt himself being ripped open again, and clamped his jaw together to prevent the scream of pain from escaping his mouth. He wouldn't give Pflaster the satisfaction. But the pain was enormous, and he had never experience a wound of this magnitude in all of his battles with evil before. He knew he could be in serious trouble, just as he knew he had to finish this fight on his own, there was no one to help him, and there was no one whose existence he would risk against this demon.

A new idea came to him as he worked to defend himself. There was a place in the spirit realm from which there was no escape, putting him there would end him as sure as if Daniel destroyed him. The Abyss, that was where he had to bring him, that was the way he would defeat him and remove him from all worlds, both physical and spiritual.

With a move that caught Pflaster by surprise, Daniel pulled the demon to him, and expending a great deal of his remaining energy, took them both to the edge of the Abyss.

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The trio of William, Mulder, and Carolyn arrived in the grey area moments after the Captain and the demon had disappeared.

"They were here," William said.

Mulder walked around, though in this realm, floated seemed a more accurate term. He was still trying to come to terms with his new state of being and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. When he looked over at Carolyn, he could tell she seemed disconcerted as well, and he gasped when she turned to him.

"What?" she asked, alarmed.

"You're beautiful," he said, for she was. In this realm she was the beautiful thirty something woman that had moved into Gull Cottage and found a handsome ghost in attendance. She was stunning. "I saw photos of you when you were younger but…"

"Stop gaping, Fox. And thank you, I think."

"This must be what it feels like to be a spirit," he said.

"I guess."

Mulder looked at the ground around him, and saw some dark stains, many dark stains and bent down to examine them.

"What are they?" Carolyn asked and he could see the fear in her eyes, but knew that he couldn't lie to her.

"Blood. Someone or something appears to have lost a great deal of blood." He stood up, his face grim.

"I know where they are!" William said, excited that he had located his beloved Uncle Danny. "Come on, we have to go!"

They ran over to his side and taking his small hands they once again disappeared.

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The Abyss loomed before them, and the demon fought hard now, knowing what the spirit had in mind, but the Captain wasn't going to give the demon another chance to break free. His vice like grip on the creature was solid and the demon injured him with every blow, every cut, every thrust, but he still couldn't shake free from the spirit.

The Captain was prepared to sacrifice himself. He had never thought it would come to this but after this hard won battle he wasn't going to let the demon free, even if it meant that he would perish as well. This creature would never again be free to harm his friends, or most importantly his beloved. And as he struggled with the demon he realized he didn't have much time, he was getting weaker with each passing moment.

He wished he could say goodbye to Carolyn, tell her one more time how much he loved her. He wondered if he was going completely cease to exist or if he could somehow find his way back to her before she passed so that they could spend eternity together as he promised her. Though he doubted that was the case. The Abyss was a one way trip with no hope of return.

So be it, he thought and pushed the demon to the edge of the Abyss…

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They landed on what seemed to be a howling, desolate landscape. Bleak dark rocks, jutted out from the Cliffside, as they crashed on a large flat ledge, their spiritual wind was knocked out of them. Only William seemed unaffected.

The wind howled around them, swirling with a force that made it hard to stand.

"There!" The boy pointed at the ledge where the two supernatural beings were fighting.

Carolyn turned to look and found herself terrified, unable to move. Surprisingly, one of them looked like a demon, just like in the stupid movies and she was sure by the evil aura it conveyed that it had to be Pflaster. Red skin, small pointy horns, and a face that reeked of evil, it was without doubt the demon.

It was the other being that froze her in her tracks though. He was enveloped in a powerful, almost blinding white light, but inside the light was a figure dressed in the Captain's clothes, blood of some sort flowed from his side, showing the extensive wound that he was suffering, but the form within the light was skeletal. How could this horrific, powerful being be her Daniel?

"Carolyn, reach out to him," Mulder yelled.

Carolyn looked to the other man but remained frozen in place.

Mulder shook his head and raced into the fray, joining Daniel as he tried to push the demon over the edge.

"What in blazes are you doing here?" Daniel yelled at his friend.

"Helping you!" Mulder yelled back.

"Then stay out of my way. Give me your energy."

"How?"

"Like this," The Captain said, and Mulder felt him reach into his mind…

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Shit! Scully scrambled and began CPR as Mulder began to seize and she knew his heart had stopped. She looked over at the other two whose status appeared unchanged.

"Damnit, Mulder! Get him and get back here. We can't lose you!" she said and pounded on his chest for all she was worth.

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Pflaster felt the Captain gain an additional surge of power and knew that he was in trouble, even as wounded as the spirit was he was close to pushing Pflaster into the Abyss that yawned behind him. With the surge of power from Girly Girl's other he knew that step would come momentarily. He also knew he wasn't going alone.

He pulled both the Captain and Mulder to him tightly.

"We'll all go together, and I will torment you in hell," he laughed as he took a backward step towards the Abyss.

"Carolyn!" Mulder turned to shout at her. "It's Danny! Reach him! He's trying to sacrifice himself for us!"

She closed her eyes and concentrated on Daniel, on her beloved and mentally reached out to him. She felt surprise, even gratitude, but a gracious refusal even as she felt him moving towards the cliff.

"No!" she yelled, opened her eyes and ran to the cliff just as Pflaster was trying to pull in the two men with him.

Daniel had Pflaster in a death grip and was prepared to go over with him, Mulder had wiggled free and was barely hanging on to Daniel and the edge of the cliff.

"Make him expel the demon and come back with us," he begged. "I can't hang on for more than a minute."

With eyes wide open, Carolyn looked at the powerful apparition before her, the one whose current appearance terrified her so, and felt for his soul, finding one she was very familiar with.

"Let him go, Daniel," she said, and the being in the white light turned to look at her. She looked in his blazing red eyes, and saw the color soften to a neon blue. "This doesn't matter. You still belong to me."

With a final burst of the remaining power that he had left, the Captain psychically twisted the neck of the demon he held so tightly against him. The surprise and amazement in the demon's eyes was evident, as with all power lost, he grasped at the tattered clothes of the spirit that held him, but unable to find purchase, fell into the blackness of the Abyss. His blood curdling screams causing both Mulder and Carolyn to shake in fear until the sound vanished.

Carolyn reached out her hand to Mulder who held the Captain with his other hand, and with William concentrating on combining their strength, the two men were soon pulled out of the Abyss and back onto the cliff.

"God, Carolyn thank you," Mulder said, gasping for air as he lie on his back.

The Captain, in his current apparition form lie on the cliff completely still.

"How do I even know if he's still there?" she asked, slowly making her way to his side. "He's never shown himself to me like this before."

"He didn't want to frighten you so he's always taken his human form. But he is a spirit and here, this is one of his normal forms, "Mulder said, accepting it without thought.

"It's frightening," she said, and Mulder saw the tears in her green eyes.

"But you had to have known, you're an intelligent woman, on some level you had to have known that there's more to him than meets the eye."

"He's always hidden it from me."

"But I'm guessing you love him anyway because you got past his appearance and you saved him."

"I did, didn't I?" She was crying now.

Mulder went to her and hugged her. "It will be all right, Carolyn." He sighed. "You stay with him, I'm going to talk to my boy and see if he can get us back to the land of the living," Mulder released her and went over to talk to his son who seemed exhausted by the events that had taken place.

Carolyn knelt down beside Daniel and took his bony hand in hers. "When I said for better or worse I had no idea it would come to this," she said and with a great deal of hope, closed her eyes and reached for her bond with him. It was faint, but she found it, he was still among those that existed. She concentrated on willing him back to the human form she was so used to and didn't know if she wanted it badly enough or if he used his last bit on energy to grant her wish but when she opened her eyes again, it was her Daniel that was before her.

But how does one heal a critically wounded spirit? She smiled as she remembered that Daniel told her their bond was capable of doing a great many things. Maybe if she flooded that link with her love for him after they returned to the physical world she could help to heal him? It was worth a shot, and she hadn't gone through all of this to lose him.

Mulder knelt down beside his son. "Will, can you get us home?"

"Yeah, Dad, but I need to rest. So tired," the boy yawned.

Mulder looked around him apprehensively, knowing this was not a good place to be and that more unfriendly apparitions could easily put in an appearance in the near future. And with the Captain completely out of things, no good could come from that circumstance. He desperately hoped his Scully was managing to keep them alive on the other end of things.

But there was nothing for it. With a sigh, he opened his arms, and William tumbled into them, asleep in moment within his father's warm embrace.

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Mulder had finally stabilized, and Scully took a break, keeping a sharp eye on him when she heard Carolyn gasp and she began to convulse. What in the hell were they doing? She began CPR on the older woman and prayed they would be back soon as she wasn't sure how much longer their hearts could stand their near death state.

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Mulder felt William stir in his arms, he had apparently dozed off too. The boy rubbed sleepy eyes and yawned, looking into his father's face. It was hard to tell how much time had passed since they had all fallen asleep, but fortunately they were still alone here, nothing had shown up to find them.

"Are you okay now, Will?"

"Still tired, but we have to go or we'll stay here," he said in a small voice.

"How do we get home, Will? Can you get us there?"

"Yes, but I need help."

"How? I'll do anything."

"Hold hands, like before. Aunt Carolyn has to hang onto Uncle Danny, and you have to hang onto me. You need to give me power like you did for Uncle Danny."

"You got it." Mulder smiled at his son.

"You don't get it, Dad. It can hurt you. Back with Mom you and Aunt Carolyn are hurtin'."

"It's the only way back, isn't it?"

William nodded.

"Then we have to do it." He looked over at Carolyn and saw that she had heard every word, and that she still held the hand of the tattered ghost.

"Let's go," she said. "I have to see if I can heal him," she said and with a blush remembered what their spiritual bonding eventually manifested itself as.

"How can you do that?" Fox was puzzled.

"I don't know that I can, but I know that I'm going to try. We are spiritually linked, our souls intertwine and when they do we sometimes forget ourselves. And if things take an adult turn, I would ask that you leave the room. We won't be aware of anything but each other."

He still stared at her, trying to interpret her words.

"We become so entwined that we lose track of our physical bodies and often find ourselves completely joined with one another in every way imaginable." She blushed again.

"Oh," was all that Mulder could manage to utter. "Well, if you can heal him I will certainly not stand in your way." He turned back to his son. "Ready, Will?"

The boy nodded, and taking each other's hands, they concentrated together and vanished at the same time.

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Scully heard Mulder gasp, and then start breathing, taking in huge lungful's of air as he struggled to consciousness. He blinked, opened his eyes and tried to sit up right away. When the world tilted he was forced back down to the bed by Scully's gentle hand.

"Scully?"

"You're back, Mulder." She frowned and looked at the others who remained still. "Did you bring the others back with you?"

"It's Will, he brought us back." He coughed and sat up again, looking at his son who rested against him. "How is he?"

"Different than you and Carolyn. You two went into cardiac arrest and I had to do CPR to keep you alive."

"Wow, really?"

"Really," she said with a grim expression. "Will seems to be in a sort of self induced coma. He's been stable, but like he's in a really deep sleep." She frowned as she looked at her son.

"I'm sure he's fine, God, Scully, he's amazing!" Mulder gushed, but stopped when he looked over at Carolyn. "She's not back yet?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. She hasn't moved since before you came back."

"I wonder if she's with him, if she can bring him back."

"Daniel?"

"Yeah, he was in pretty bad shape. He was willing, trying I think, to sacrifice himself for all of us."

"Why would he do that?" Scully's expression was troubled.

"To get rid of Pflaster once and for all, so that he wouldn't kill us, so that he wouldn't touch Carolyn."

"He couldn't kill, err, destroy Pflaster?"

"No, he was too weak. Pflaster kept working on his wound, until he was all but gone. He thought the only option he had was to push him into hell, and go along with him since he didn't have the power to get away."

"What happened?"

"Will took us to him. I let Danny use my energy and before we hurtled into the abyss with Pflaster, Carolyn saved us. In the end she couldn't let him go, no matter what he looks like as a spirit." He grimaced as he turned to Scully. "He's really scary, Scully. I think it was a bit of a shock for her to realize what one of his true spirit forms really looks like."

She looked from her husband to the older woman who lie sleeping peacefully on the bed besides Mulder and William.

"I think they must see each other's souls," Scully whispered and took his hand in hers.

"Just like another pair I know," Mulder said and leaned across the two people to kiss her.

"Aww, sheesh," William made a disgusted noise as he woke up. "Kissing? Really?"

His parents laughed and broke apart.

"Two out of three accounted for," Scully said but gave Carolyn a troubled look. "Where is she? Why hasn't she come back yet?"