Chapter 18: "Forgotten Future"

It had been a few days since Chloe had seen her family, but she absolutely knew why. Ever since she had told Sinister about Amy, Sinister had been dosing her occasionally with that serum that inhibited her emotions. Not often enough that Chloe wasn't terrified and cowed, but often enough that Chloe was sure Charlie hadn't picked up her "song" — or if she had, she had probably lost it.

She was pretty sure Sinister had done something telepathically to her dreams, too, because she didn't think she'd dreamed in the entire time she'd been there. Dreams were risky; they could produce emotions.

It was frustrating, because one of the main things that had been keeping Chloe going was the fact that she knew both of her big sisters would be looking for her. Knowing that she'd explained to Sinister what she needed to know to keep her there was only making the captivity harder to endure.

Sinister had said she wanted to see how long Chloe would be stubborn compared to her siblings and father. The truth was: Chloe was competitive. She wanted to outlast them. But she was also young, scared, and wildly vacillating between a complete lack of emotions and fear so stifling she felt like she was choking on it.

After all, one of the side effects of Sinister's concoction was that when the emotions did come back on, they felt sharper and harder to deal with after spending so long not having to deal with them. And Chloe was sure that was part of Sinister's plan to break her down, too — hiding her from Charlie while also scaring her out of her mind.

But since it had been a few days, she had been there long enough to establish a routine. She woke up and went to breakfast at the dining room that looked too empty in the too-big and too-decorated house. She'd eat with Sinister and feel her reach out to test the edges of her mind and gauge how cowed she was, and then they would go to the lab.

At least that much was predictable — or so she thought.

She wasn't at all expecting to come down to the dining room to find Sinister partially bent over the table, clutching her head. Chloe couldn't see any sign of what was wrong, and she wondered for a brief second if her sister was trying to break through Sinister's telepathic defenses to find her.

That would be great.

But Chloe wasn't going to rely on pure luck to get her out of the situation, considering how little luck she'd had thus far. This could be something else entirely — and something that could affect Sinister was either really good or very bad.

She took a cautious step forward, not sure if she wanted to interrupt Sinister or not — but then, all at once, Sinister straightened up, her face lined in the split second it took her to regain her usual composure. She tipped her chin toward Chloe and then scoffed. "Do stop staring, Miss Summers. It's unbecoming."

Chloe bit her lip but sat down at her usual place by the head of the table. Breakfast was already set out for them to eat, but she was too curious to leave it be. "What happened?"

"Nothing to concern you," Sinister said shortly, though her hand shook slightly as she reached for her tea, even if she managed to get even that reaction under control a second later by clenching her fist and then taking the teacup.

But Chloe couldn't ignore it. She couldn't. Even if she couldn't figure out what to ask for a long time, because there were so many questions swirling in her head. "Does this have anything to do with what you've got me working on with you?" she asked. When Sinister narrowed her eyes, Chloe tipped her chin up. "I'm not stupid. Don't treat me like I am."

"Miss Summers, I wouldn't bother with any effort on your behalf if I thought that," Sinister said simply.

Chloe kept her chin raised and her gaze on Sinister. "Then tell me what's going on. You brought me here to help you, didn't you?"

Sinister narrowed her eyes and considered Chloe for a long time before she smirked lightly and nodded to herself, obviously coming to a decision. "There is more going on than you know, Miss Summers. Even now, En Sabah Nur is preparing for war, and he comes to me for that cause."

"En Sabah Nur?" Chloe repeated, her nose wrinkled. The name felt familiar, but she'd been through all sorts of old X-Men logs… it wasn't in the most recent logs, but she thought she'd seen a mention…

"I"m surprised you don't recognize the name," Sinister said. "I suppose that's a mark of how long it's been since he last rose to power. Which only proves that the time is ripe." She sighed. "And there is much to be done."

"So I'm helping you help this… person," Chloe said with a frown.

"No. You're helping to safeguard my life's work," Sinister replied. "A far dearer cause for me."

"I take it you don't trust your new partner, then," Chloe said and almost smirked at the thought.

"Nothing new about that," Sinister said.

"But if I'm here to safeguard your work, I'd assume I'd be backing up files or something, not… you seem to be doing research, not defense," Chloe reasoned.

Sinister smiled crookedly. "I prefer to think of it as both of those things. Particularly since your family is such a keystone to that work."

Chloe crossed her arms. "I still don't understand," she said slowly.

"Barring one instance that I still regret, I've taken great care to keep your family away from this character," SInister said. "That's all you truly need to know."

"So you're protecting us," Chloe said, frowning down at her food. "By having me help you safeguard your work against him."

"My dear girl, I know you're smart enough to understand that," Sinister said. "I've spent generations molding this family. I will not see that wasted for anyone."

"Not anyone with an X-Gene, anyway," Chloe muttered under her breath. She shook her head to herself and looked up again. "Who is he, anyway? You said not even Jean could mess with you like that."

"I'd rather not discuss it at this time," Sinister said as she finished her tea. "But we do have work to complete. And the quicker it's done, the quicker you can find yourself back home."

Chloe bit her lip. She still had plenty of questions, but she also did very much want to go home. And she wasn't going to question getting intel, so… she got to her feet and nodded, following Sinister out.

Ever since Chloe had figured out what Sinister was up to, she had been more than a little freaked out.

The more she learned from Sinister about this En Sabah Nur, the more apparent it was that Sinister had legitimate concerns that this person might be the death of her. And she was taking steps to prevent that outcome — namely, looking into backup bodies for herself.

Honestly, Chloe was surprised that, given what Logan had put her through on her test to join the team, she hadn't put that much together herself. She blamed fear as well as confusion over this new player on the scene.

Obviously, Sinister couldn't use the backup bodies she used to have, since the Avengers and X-Men had destroyed them when Scott had killed her original form. But she was looking into something to house herself that was more than a host. A body of her own.

Which would be great news for Jana, so Chloe kept reminding herself of that one silver lining so she didn't freak herself out even more than she already was.

She probably wouldn't have been sleeping well if Sinister had been letting her dream, considering what they were working on, so she was almost grateful for that much, at least. But as for the rest of it… the fact that they were cataloguing traits for an empty body, the fact that Sinister was using so much of Chloe's DNA and that of her family (to the point that Chloe was dehydrated more days than not from blood draws) for the new body, and the fact that Chloe was so freaked out that she was actually working harder to understand Sinister's science…

Well, she was ready to be out of that living nightmare. Sooner rather than later.

She was surprised, then, when she came downstairs for breakfast at the normal time and hadn't even gotten into her first bite of toast before Sinister announced, without any prelude, "You've been a wonderful help, dear girl. It's time I made good on my promise to return you to your family."

Chloe nearly dropped her toast. "Really?" she breathed out, not at all able to hide her excitement and relief.

Sinister smirked but nodded. "I have all I need to create at least a prototype. And I'm afraid that's all I have time for. En Sabah Nur is moving soon — and you cannot be here when he does."

Chloe bit her lip. She still didn't know what to do about Sinister's protective urges. From what she could see of how powerful En Sabah Nur was, she supposed she should have been grateful, but she couldn't bring herself to feel anything like that where Sinister was concerned. So, instead, she simply asked, "When?"

"When will you be returned or when is he moving? Be specific, my dear," Sinister said.

Chloe bristled at the condescending tone. Sometimes, Sinister could act like an overly concerned parent, and that was somehow worse than any of the experiments, in her opinion. "Both, then."

Sinister chuckled and leaned back in her seat. "Unfortunately, I'm not privy to an exact timeline of his plans, but I would say you have weeks at the most." She smiled, and the diamond at the center of her forehead glowed slightly brighter. "As for when you will rejoin your family, I need to begin the last stages of my work, and you need to be safely tucked in bed long before he becomes an issue. Finish your breakfast; I'd hate to return you with an empty stomach and feed rumors of inhospitality."

Chloe almost pointed out that food was the least of Sinister's worries when it came to questions of hospitality, but she was so relieved to be headed home that she didn't bring it up and instead quickly ate what she could — even if it was hard to choke down any food with the promise of home ringing in her ears. She was too excited to eat much.

Sinister watched her eat with a small smile, and then, as soon as Chloe was finished, leaned forward, her eyes and diamond glowing bright red. "Now then," she said, "there's no need for you to go running home to your father and telling him all we've been up to, is there?"

Chloe let out an involuntary noise of pure fear — and then promptly sank into unconsciousness.

When Chloe woke up lying on a hotel bed, she understandably panicked at the new environment and sat bolt upright, her heart going a mile a minute and her eyes wide behind her glasses.

No one else was in the hotel room — thank goodness — and when she went to the window, she realized she was in Salem Center. So that was good. But she had no idea how she'd gotten there or why she was in what looked like the executive suite.

She took stock of herself and was relieved to find that, physically, she seemed alright. The crooks of her elbows were bruised, but other than that, she was… fine. Freaked out, yes, but … well, things could be worse, she kept telling herself, despite the fact that she was practically hyperventilating.

With her arms wrapped around her middle, she tried to think back to the last thing she remembered. She had decided to go out with friends… She frowned and rubbed her forehead. She could remember glimpses of something happening — the most concerning detail of which being the enduring image of Sinister and her glowing eyes and forehead-diamond — but she didn't remember anything concrete after leaving the house.

But considering whatever had happened involved Sinister, Chloe didn't want to stay in the hotel too long. Instead, she went to the phone in the hotel room and called the institute, relieved when her dad was the one to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Dad." Chloe could have cried, but she was still in too much shock.

"Chloe?" Scott's tone mirrored herself almost exactly. "Chloe, sweetheart, where are you? Are you alright? We're coming to get you."

Chloe held onto the phone tighter with every word of encouragement. "I'm okay," she said, knowing her dad had to be worried out of his mind since she'd gone missing, even if she didn't know how long she'd been gone or what had happened while she was out. "I'm… I'm at the hotel in Salem Center — the one close to the sushi place?"

"I'm taking a bamf, and I'll be right there to get you home," Scott promised. "What happened? Are you in trouble? Are you alone?"

"I think so," Chloe said, though she wasn't sure. "I don't know. Maybe bring Kurt so you've got backup? I just kind of… woke up here."

There was a long pause on the other end before Scott said, tightly, "We're on our way."

"Thanks, Dad," Chloe breathed out, setting the phone back down and biting her lip. She wanted her dad to be careful, because this felt like it could have been a trap. This was Sinister they were dealing with, and Sinister didn't just let people go like this.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait too long before Kurt and Scott teleported to where she was, and Chloe didn't hesitate to rush over and grab her dad in a tight hug. She felt like she hadn't seen him in ages, even though she had no memory of how long she'd been gone.

Judging by how tightly Scott grabbed her up and hugged her back, Chloe had to guess it had been a long time, though.

Scott kept her close and kissed the top of her head before he said to Kurt, without even looking Kurt's way, "Let's go home."

"Absolutely," Kurt said without hesitation, putting one hand on Chloe's shoulder and one on Scott's to teleport them all back to Westchester, reappearing in Chloe's room so she could have her reunion in some semblance of privacy — even though everyone knew they'd be swamped soon.

Kurt disappeared to go get Annie, though Scott had moved from hugging Chloe to looking her over, frowning at her elbows in particular. "Chloe, what happened?" he asked softly.

Chloe shook her head, her eyes wide. "I don't know," she whispered, suddenly overwhelmed by that simple fact as her eyes brimmed with tears. "I went to get food, and then… I woke up in the hotel."

Scott's frown deepened, though it looked like he had an idea of what was going on all the same. "Chloe, that was almost two weeks ago."

Chloe could actually feel how pale she went when she heard it. "What?"

"Can you remember anything? Anything at all?"

Chloe tried — she really did — because her dad looked so upset that she wanted so badly to remember something for him. But, ultimately, she had to shake her head. "I think I saw Sinister, but…"

Scott sighed. "I wish I could say I was surprised," he said before he pulled her into another hug and let her cry quietly into his shirt. "This is what he does. I still don't remember most of what he did when I was your age. I'm just sorry he's making this a pattern."

Chloe nodded, and Scott just held her as she got herself back under control — though when Annie showed up with Kurt, it was harder to get the lid back on her emotions when Annie was openly crying and hugging Chloe as tightly as she could, vowing to skin "that woman" alive if she ever saw her.

And Chloe was glad to see her parents. She was. She was so relieved she felt like she'd choke on the sensation. But there was something tugging at the back of her mind — something important. She knew she knew something. Something she needed to tell her dad. But every time she tried to remember, her head hurt.

Scott was the one to notice her expression and dipped his head to catch her gaze. "What's wrong?"

Chloe bit her lip; she was starting to leave teeth marks. "I know I know something important," she said. "But I don't know what it is."

Scott frowned. "Important how?" he asked. "You might not have the details, but sometimes, the idea lingers."

Chloe shook her head slowly. "I… I think I know what Sinister is planning, but that's all I can say. It's just… an impression. But every time I try to look, my head hurts."

Scott let out a breath and then ran a hand over her hair. "For now, just focus on being home. I'll have Hank look you over and see if we can suss together any clues. And if it's really bothering you, Rachel can look. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out, and we'll fix it together, alright?"

A/N: Yes, we are being super evil and ending this volume-o-mostly-fluff on a cliffhanger. Just imagine what awaits you when you go to Canucklehead Cowgirl's profile for our next volume: "Horsemen." -ooooooh-