He awoke and found that he was no longer in his prison. Instead of the bleak, slimy, clod there was nothing but white light. Everything was just a warm, white space and he was the only soul to be found. But the best part was that there was no more pain.

Jesse sighed and closed his eyes. He was so afraid that it wasn't true, that he was really still in hell and that his heaven was fake. Or worse, that his heaven was the white space between life and death. Jesse didn't even want to think about it. He was quite content to just close his eyes, give into the warmth of the space and drift.

He didn't know how long he drifted, a minuet, an hour, maybe more, before he started to hear a sound far off in the corner of his space. At first it was a low chirp, like a bird that was far off; soft, gentle, a minor distraction. Then it got louder, and more persistent.

It took him a second or two to figure out what the sound was…a voice. A soft, friendly voice. One that he knew he knew but couldn't quite place and it kept getting closer. He could almost make out what it was saying….

"J…e…Ja…e…sssss…."

Jesse opened his eyes reluctantly and looked around. There was a speck in the distance, a blurry view of something familiar, but it was too much effort to figure it out. He wanted to go back to drifting, to being mindless. So he shut his eyes, but the voice was persistent.

"Jes…e…" it called, closer this time.

Again Jesse forced his eyes open and was surprised to see that the speck had moved closer to him. He could now vaguely make out the figure of a person and for an instant panic raced through him. Had he been found? Had the bastard who'd be torturing him come to take him back to hell? But then a thought kicked in.

'I know this voice. How do I know this voice?' And so Jesse found himself heading to the speak that was rapidly becoming human. And once Jesse got a glimpse of the red hair the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Emma!" he called, his voice full of emotion. "Emma you found me!"

"Jesse!" she called back, now right in front of him, her voice equally emotional. "Oh Jesse!" she cried, throwing her arms around him. "Oh thank God!"

"You found me!" he said again, moving closer into her warmth. The feel of her, the actual feel of one of his friends, of someone who loved and cared about him, of someone who would protect him was so overwhelmingly comforting that it was indescribable. He just stood there, allowing himself to be wrapped in the safety of her arms and feel her close to him. Neither of them moved for quite a few minuets.

"No, you found me," Emma said finally, reluctantly, pulling herself away from Jess. She took a minuet to look over her friend, examining him to make sure he was real and unharmed. As far as she could tell both were true. "Not a scratch…" she said with a smile.

Jesse gave her a quizzical look, "Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean the guy…he…."

"What guy?" Emma asked, concern edging her voice.

"There's this guy who shows up…he wants something and I have no idea what it is. He asks me the same thing every time…"Will you show me?"" Jesse said. Jesse looked around now, as if he was seeing the space for the first time. "Emma, where are we? This isn't Sanctuary…" he said, confusion written all over him.

"No we're in your head. Brennan and Shalimar found you, you'd been hurt. I'm trying to figure out why," she quickly explained.

"Hurt? Found me? Emma, you found me, and I know I'm hurt…he's…Emma what's going on?" Jesse said, growing more and more confused.

"Jesse, it's ok, you're safe…tell me what happened to you," Emma said calmly.

"Emma, I can't breath…" Jesse gasped franticly, "Something's wrong…it hurts…something's pulling…Emma…!" Jesse cried franticly before his body phased away.

"Jesse!" Emma screamed and grabbed for him, but the blond mutant was already gone. She was left with nothing but empty space.

"What's taking her so long?" Shalimar growled for the millionth time. She and Brennan were both positioned outside the med lab door, waiting for Emma to émigré hopefully with a Jesse.

"It's not like a walk in the park Shal," Brennan said soothingly.

"I know that!" Shal snapped. She was looking for a fight, and at this point anyone would do.

"She's got to go slow, take her time, you wouldn't want her to mess up and hurt Jesse would you?" Brennan asked her, his voice still calm.

Shal stopped in her tracks and spun around to face Brennan, "She can hurt him?" Shal asked fear in her voice.

"She's in his head Shal, there's a lot that can happen," Brennan said and instantly regretted his words when he saw the blood thirsty look enter Shal's eyes.

"I'm goanna…."

Brennan jumped to his feet and stood toe to toe with Shal, "Wait a minuet! Hold it Shal! Think before you threaten, this is Emma we're talking about! You know, little Emma, who…."

"Who needs a hand…" Emma said softly from the doorway. Both Shalimar and Brennan turned to face the redhead.

One look at her and all of Shalimar's annoyance and aggression were pushed away and replaced with worry. The younger girl was pale and shaky. She obviously was having difficulty with holding her own weight and she was crying.

Shal closed the gap between them with two steps and quickly scooped Emma up and carried her into the lab. She laid Em gently on one of the bio beds and then paged Adam.

"Adam, Emma's back. You need to look at her."

"I'm on my way," was the brief reply.

"I'm fine," Emma, said unbelievingly.

"Sure you are, that's why you look like you're going to pass out," Bren said as he went about the lab, cleaning up the condoles and burnt incenses, "Does your head hurt?"

"A little," Emma answered distracted. Her eyes had fallen on Jesse's still from. "He's not in there…" Emma said softly.

"What?" Shalimar asked confused.

"The lights are on, but no ones home," Emma sobbed.

"Em, it's ok…let Adam look at you and then tell us latter, ok?" Shal soothed, pulling the younger woman into a hug and rocking her slightly.

"But Shal you don't understand! Jesse's not in his own head!" She cried.

"What are you talking about Emma?" Adam said from the doorway. Emma pulled away from Shal so she could speak to Adam, while Brennan moved silently to Jesse's side and took his hand.

"He's consciousness is gone, that's why he's unresponsive," she cried, "Whoever did this to him has the ability to suck the consciousness right out of someone's mind! Everything works, there's no brain damage, not physical damage, but the conscious is gone! It's fucking mind rape!" Emma cried braking down.

Shal quickly pulled her into her arms and began to comfort her, desperately fighting back her own tears. Adam started at her for a second before moving to a shelf and pulling out a sedative.

"Emma," he said gently. "I know that you hate sedatives, but I want your permission to give you a mild one, alright?" His only reply was a brief nod from her as she continued to nod. "Thank you," he said and injected her. In a matter of minuets Emma's body was limp and she was asleep.

Shalimar laid her flat and allowed Adam to examine her while she went over to Jesse and Brennan. Brennan was whispering softly to Jess, some silly joke that the two of them shared that she couldn't quite hear. Didn't matter anyway, it was their joke and she'd never get it. Brennan looked up at her with pain filled eyes as she took hold of Jesse's hand and the two of them had one of their moments of pure understanding.

'We find the one responsible and we kill them…..'

So i hope this makes up for the really short chapter...anyway, there's more to come so keep reading and reviweing please.