Disclaimer: I own nothing…obviously.

A/N: So, I was not really sure about this story when I turned it in for Creative Writing, but my teacher liked it…tell me what you think though.

In Washington DC there was almost always something going on during all hours of the day, but on one night the entire city slept peacefully. It was this night that a young man needed someone to be there for him, but there was no one there to help him. On that night a comforting haze had settled over the city and gave the illusion that it was still summer, even though it was well into winter.

A red car pulled up next to the half a dozen police cars and two people got out of it. Both of them were dressed in jeans and light jackets, looking like they had been pulled away from something. FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully ducked underneath the crime scene tape and took a few steps closer to the body that lie on the pavement. The body of a young man was lying in a pool of blood. The pool seemed endless; the man lying in it was pale and covered in the early morning dew.

“Mulder, why are we here? I see no sign that this is an X-File,” Scully asked her partner, a hint of annoyance edging into her words. Mulder just grinned and knelt down next to the body.

“C’mon Scully, you don’t think it is at all curious that all of this mans blood somehow drained from this one little cut?” Mulder shot back at her, his usual cocky grin plastered across his face. He was pointing a small stab wound in the victim’s lower back, not much bigger than a quarter. There was no blood on the victim’s shirt, or anywhere around the stab wound.

“Sure, but why are we here?”

“Scully, do you trust me?” Mulder asked her, he stood up and put his hands on her shoulders. He stooped down low enough to look her in the eyes and waited for a response. Scully sighed and then nodded; Mulder’s grin widened.

“It isn’t his blood.” Mulder stated it simply and then stood up straight. Scully’s brow furrowed as she thought over what Mulder had said. She titled her head to the side and met his eyes before saying anything.

“How can you be sure?”

“I’m not sure how, I just know it. Once the lab runs a few tests I will be proven right,” Mulder said a smug smile on his lips. Scully rolled her eyes and turned around intending to walk back to the car, but something stopped her. The ground she was standing on was not fresh cement, but the footprints in it were. She knelt down and reached out to touch the footprints. She brought her hand down and was almost touching the ground when a white-hot pain shot through her fingers. She quickly retracted her hand and stood up. She backed away with the intention of getting as far away from the hot ground as possible but she ran into Mulder and could go no further.

“Mulder, the ground is—” she began to say but he cut her off.

“Hot. I know, but again I’m not sure why,” Mulder stated. He took her burnt hand in his and began examining it. After a moment he brought her hand up to his lips and placed a soft kiss on it, the action drew forth a smile from Scully.

The two FBI agents left the crime scene to go chase down leads and follow the evidence, but by the end of the day they still had nothing to go on. Tired and rather frustrated that they had lost an entire day the two agents found their way to a crowded restaurant. They were seated in a booth in the back, away from the group of noisy rednecks that had followed them inside.

“Mulder, I’m still not convinced this is an X-File,” Scully said as she scanned through the menu. She always looked through the menu even though she always ordered the same thing every time they went there. Mulder watched her and grinned as she folded the menu and then leaned in closer to him.

“Of course, I would expect you to be skeptical. The blood isn’t his; he bled someone else’s blood. But that is not even the best part. The blood isn’t even human. The lab ran a few tests and determined that it is blood from an animal. Tiger blood, to be more exact,” Mulder said. Scully had picked up her glass of water and shot him a skeptical look, one that he was so used to seeing on her face, then set the cup down and parted her lips to say something. There was nothing she could say though—what he was saying was so ridiculous, even for Mulder.

“Mulder, do you realize what you’re saying?” Mulder simply nodded and began toying with the edge of his napkin.

“Yes, Scully, I do. But I am not making it up. The evidence never lies,” Mulder pointed out. They fell silent as their waitress sauntered over to them and took their order, then sauntered off.

“Mulder, I just think that—” Scully’s phone began to ring and she broke off what she was saying to answer it. After a moment of listening she hung up and looked at Mulder.

“That was the zoo wasn’t it? There’s something there they want us to look at. Might it be a tiger, completely drained of blood?” Mulder ventured, his grin widened when Scully nodded.

“Let’s go, I want to see this for myself,” Scully said. They stood up and left the crowded restaurant, then went back to Mulder’s small, red car. But at this point nothing more needs to be said. There is no reason for me to go into detail about the pool of blood around the large animal and the odd absence of blood on the body. The young man had bled the tigers blood, and the tiger had bled the young mans blood, but there is no way to easily describe this vivid enough that you feel like you are seeing it with your own eyes. There is no reason for the facts to be stated, or the joy Mulder felt when he was proved right again, and the guilt Scully felt for not trusting him. There is no definite answer, there is no one to put in jail for the unjust murder of a young man and a tiger, since there is no way to prove the conclusions the two FBI agents drew. The facts of the case will be summarized in a short report that is barely read by the balding supervisor of Mulder and Scully and then filed away as another unsolved case. It may have been solved but not in any way that is understandable to just anyone. There is no way to explain why it is the tiger and young man bled each other’s blood. There is no way to explain how they died or even why they died. The only news station that would even dare to mention anything about the odd “case” is Fox, but they would sum it up to terrorism, because, according to them, everything is terrorist related.

There is no real answer to this particular X-File, but that is why it is an X-File. Without the mystery and the impossible facts it would be something that could be categorized, filed and easily referenced. If it could be understood by anyone other than the two agents who had “solved” it then it would just be any other case. It was not just any other case, but the only people who truly understood that had no desire to make anyone else understand.