Chapter 19 : Just A Shadow

After the first session of working on James with Nate, Rachel didn't speak for several hours … and it wasn't any better after the second or third sessions the next day or the day after that. The two Summerses were about to call it a day after the funeral for Cody when Rachel made a decision.

"Hope," she said, though she hadn't taken her focus off of James. "You should help too. I don't even know what we're looking for … but for as open as it is, maybe a fresh set of eyes or an extra person looking might help."

"Certainly can't hurt anything," Hope said under her breath, though Nate gave her a withering look.

The three telepaths took just a moment to decide on a plan of attack before once again diving into James' mind. As with every other time, the mindscape they found was entirely empty for as far as they could see. The three of them chose their directions and began to search.

Hope wasn't exactly positive from the very start, though she did as her dad asked and kept a watchful eye as they looked for …. Well, she still didn't know what.

Rachel was nearly frantic in her search, her energy buzzing more insistently the harder she looked and the more nothing that she saw, feeling more and more guilty with every session.

So it was a stroke of luck that Nate spotted the fine trail of smoke on the distant horizon. It was miniscule - and so far in the distance that, for a moment, Nate wasn't sure he'd even seen it. But there it was all the same, and instead of being cautious and calling over Rachel and Hope, he went searching on his own.

He expected the smoke to get thicker or more prevalent the farther he went, but no matter how close he got, it was still the tiniest of wisps. And then Nate saw why.

The source of the smoke was a single photograph, and it wasn't even really on fire. It was just … slowly smoldering away. Nate carefully picked it up and pinched the embers out with his fingers, holding his breath as he did so, since it looked like this one burnt up photo was all that was left in James' mind.

When he was sure he'd extinguished the fire, he turned the photo over in his hands to see if he could see what the photo was, but it was hard to tell on first inspection. The edges had eroded to the point that all that was left of the face in the photograph was half of James as he smiled up at the camera. Nate could barely make out the fact that behind him had to be his parents if the swatch of plaid flannel to his left and the dark hair on his right were any indication. But it was hard to tell for how the surface of the picture had bubbled up from the heat of the fires.

And Nate honestly didn't know if this was going to be enough for James to come back from.

He'd expected something more … organic, if he was being honest. He could have worked with something that had occurred in nature … or even if it was something technological, he could have done something with that, but this … this was just an object, and a singular one at that. It wasn't a photo album. It wasn't a collection or a hallway of framed photos that needed repair. It was just one family photo that didn't even have enough of anyone to be able to say for sure how old it was.

The longer Nate looked at it, the more upset he found himself to be. James was supposed to have a future.

"If he's going to have a chance at all, you need to put that back where it belongs," Hope said from behind him, which had Nate turning to look at her.

"I thought you were of the mindset that this was a waste of time," Nate said, the scrap of burnt and bubbled photo still in his hand.

"I mean … I still don't have a lot of faith that he'll come back," Hope said, one arm across her stomach as she watched her dad carefully. "But … you did say this family was special."

Nate nodded and looked down at the photo again. "It should probably be at the center of his mind," he said thoughtfully. "We'll need to guard him against outside threats until we know for sure one way or another if he can come back from this."

"What kind of threats are you thinking?" Hope asked, whisper quiet.

"There are only so many that would covet a mind this empty," Nate replied with a hard edge. "We can't let that happen. One of us needs to guard his mind and watch this photograph to see if there's a change. We can see if some of the other more powerful telepaths can pitch in, too."

"Oh, yay," Hope muttered, then turned in time to see Rachel as she caught up to them, though she looked more upset when she saw what Nate had found, her focus caught up on the crispy, torched edges.

"Don't panic," Nate said. "I'm going to determine where the center of his mind is - you call in our best telepaths."

Rachel forced herself to swallow down exactly the panic Nate told her not to do. "Right. Got it," she said, then took a hold of Hope's hand to leave Nate to his work. He was going to need focus to find the center of nothing, after all - and she didn't know if she could handle looking at the damage she'd done.

As soon as they were out of James' mind, Rachel went to work, steadfastly ignoring Hope's look her way as well as the Phoenix in the back of her mind knocking on its box and trying to take advantage of how upset she was. She needed to focus - not just on her telepathic defenses but on fixing what she'd done. Because if she couldn't…

Well, she wasn't going to think about that. Not until she'd exhausted every possible method to salvage James' mind.

She went down the list of the best telepaths she knew. Betsy, of course, was top of the list, but Jubilee as well - she was better than she thought she was, and honestly, she'd gotten pretty good since the twins got telepathy.

And… well… if she was going for powerful, talented telepaths…

Rachel composed the text and send it off quickly. And then went to find Bobby as she tried hard not to give in to the guilt and hopelessness creeping in on her.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Gwen Poole threw her arms out when she and Quentin Quire arrived at Tony's hidden sanctuary. "We're in this story too? Who knew?" She spun a small circle, grinning to herself. "This is a great universe to be in. Way less drama. More babies, therefore, more cuteness." She paused, narrowed her eyes, and spun to point at Quentin. "That's not an invitation."

Quentin shook his head at her as he closed the door behind them and then nodded toward Betsy and Jubilee as they were talking together in the entryway. "Don't worry; the cavalry is here," he told the two women, immediately earning a huff out of Jubilee."As if you'll argue with it, sparkles."

"Didn't know you were bringing a date," Jubilee said sweetly. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. What did he tell you to convince you to come along?"

Gwen grinned widely. "There are very few words in this relationship. Or sometimes a lot of them all at once. And then none at all." She stuck her hand out at Jubilee, who was pulling a spectacular face. "Hi, by the way. I'm Gwen. Totally psyched to be intro'd in this story. Little late to the game, but that's how it is, y'know?"

"I've heard plenty," Jubilee said. "Um … wish it was better timing, but it would have to be awful to ask Quentin to come home."

"Whatever," Quentin replied with a wave. "Just point me to what you people couldn't fix and get out of my way."

When Quentin strode forward, Gwen grinned and nudged Betsy on her way past. "Don't worry!" she said brightly. "He's got this."

And since neither Betsy nor Jubilee had much experience with Gwen to know how to handle her, they just shared a look and decided to try to get to where the telepaths in the Summers family were before Gwen and Quentin caused too much of a stir.

Except it wasn't Quentin making a scene at the moment. When the group with Quentin made their way down to where James was, it was pretty unnecessary to do any further explanation on what was wrong when they could easily hear Logan giving Nate a hard time.

"Cut the crap already," Logan was saying with a low rumble. "None of you have been straight with me about my kid since I got upright. Whatever it is you think you're gonna do, you need to tell me about it."

"Logan, there's nothing to tell yet," Nate replied, though it was clear he didn't like being questioned when he was working on things.

"Yeah? Then why'd you find the worlds' most snot-nosed telepath to come sniffin' around if it's nothing?" When Nate narrowed his eyes and locked down his jaw, Logan gestured up at him. "Uh-huh. All hands on deck but you don't want to admit it. Why?"

"This is precautionary," Nate said, which had not only Logan calling him out with a look, but Quentin too.

"Okay, but even I don't believe that," Quentin said to Nate. "Your family really does suck when it comes to open sharing of anything, don't they?" But Quentin, being Quentin, didn't wait for Nate to find an explanation before he just … pushed his way into Nate's memory to see what the story was. When he was done, he turned fully toward Nate and set his glasses on the tip of his nose. "You need to tell him before there's a whole very ugly thing that will be your fault for lack of informing people. I am honestly surprised your little wizard hasn't come and hit you with a newspaper or something."

"I could let Jeff bite him!" Gwen sang out, her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned forward with one foot kicked up behind her, looking like this would be the very height of entertainment.

"Jeff would take his upper half off entirely," Quentin said.

"They grow up so quickly," Gwen said wistfully.

"Tell you what, Cable," Quentin said as he stood between Nate and Logan. "I'll take the first shift just so I can see what kind of a train wreck you have on your hands while you try to avoid another schism. If I need a Summers escort, Rachel can give me the short version. Since no one but Summerses can have access to Howletts, apparently."

Logan didn't wait for any normal indicator that would have been a tip off to a telepath doing exactly as Quentin had said he was going to do before he turned to Nate, arms crossed. "Yeah, you're not special, everyone gets that from him, so spill."

Nate looked entirely unamused by this turn of events, though he still gestured toward James with one hand. "We're rebuilding his mind," he said, seeing no reason not to be blunt when, at this point, the full truth was the only way to avoid more confrontation that would get in the way of getting things done. "The Phoenix burned out everything Apocalypse touched, and that was most of it."

Logan frowned as he thought it over. "How much was left?"

"Not much."

"Has he made any improvement?"

"Yes," Nate said firmly. "It's slow-going, which is why we called in help, but yes."

"Is it enough to give him something to come back from? And is that the only reason you called in back up?" Logan asked, since a half truth still stunk.

Nate crossed his arms. "You know how dangerous an open mind is. An empty mind, in the process of rebuilding, is even more of an invitation to trouble."

Logan nodded at that and lost a bit of steam. "I want to be here if it goes south."

"We won't know for a while yet," Nate pointed out.

"Doesn't change what I'm askin' for."

"Fine."

Logan turned to leave, and on his way, he made a point to clap Quentin on the shoulder with a soft 'nice to see you, kid', knowing that Quentin had not only gotten to work already, but in his own way of doing things, Quentin was multitasking and watching their interaction as well.

"I seriously do not understand how you can't communicate any better than a teenager," Quentin said to Nate before Logan was gone out of the lab entirely. "So what exactly do you want me to do here? You undersold it to the old man. There is nothing to do."

"That photograph wasn't even recognizable when we found it. It's progress, even if it doesn't look like it. We just have to use Rachel's memory for the rest."

"Alright … but … Sinister isn't around at all," Quentin said. "And James is less likely to be a special needs case if you let him fix it on his own, so what's the danger? Is this an Avengers-level problem or some ridiculous moron that I haven't seen yet while I've been avoiding … all of this." He grinned widely. "Is there a polar opposite to the Phoenix? Is that what it is?"

"Oooh, are you tempting the writers?" Gwen asked, her eyes wide. "Are you - are you tempting the wrath of the evil impulses?"

"I am," Quentin said, rolling his eyes as he waved her off. "Because the opposite of the Phoenix would be world-creating, and last I checked, there are about four hundred Howletts already. I think they have it covered already."

Gwen held up a finger. "Ooh, hold up," she said, walking off somewhere they couldn't see, which only served to confuse everyone who had seen her seem to disappear.

"She does this all the time," Quentin said to Nate.

"But what is it she's doing?" Nate asked.

"I don't think you really want to know."

When Gwen returned a few minutes later, she was nodding her head a few times. "Okay, so first of all, there are in fact several hundred Howletts within a few generations, so that's a thing, but also? I saw the emails and chats and yeah, there are possibilities here."

"Gwen …" Quentin covered his eyes with one hand. "Please don't."

She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. "Only 'cause you said 'please.'"

"Oh … kay then," Jubilee said, frowning. "I was going to ask if you were mind controlled, but now I'm not sure what's happening. So … how about you and me take your Manic Panic'd horrible haircut and I'll fill you in on what you missed while you were being so kind and watching over the student body for LA."

"Very Old Summers," Quentin said, looking over his glasses at Nate. "You can show Gwen around a little, can't you?"

"Please!" Gwen grinned at Nate and bounced over to grab on to one of his arms with a badly hidden 'ooooh'. "Where's your firing range? I wanna shoot that big gun you have that's, like, the size of your super-arms."

"Do not let her get near K's coffee," Quentin called out as he and Jubilee got situated on either side of James to get to work.

"Okay, but now I kinda want to," Hope said under her breath as she followed her dad and Gwen out of the medical area to give Quentin and Jubilee room to work. However, it wasn't long at all before she found herself smirking quietly as she picked up on her dad's thoughts - which for the first time that day weren't centered on James and Rachel and the fiasco there but were more along the lines of, There's another Wade in this world?

And while Hope was getting a show out of Gwen gleefully bouncing around Nate very much like Deadpool always did, Quentin and Jubilee were left with a photograph and a lot of empty space. It was the first time Jubilee had actually seen the state of James' mind, and she had one fist over her mouth as she turned in every direction as if something might show up all on its own.

Nate had told her what the story was, of course. But it was one thing to hear about this kind of thing and another thing entirely to stand in the nothingness and try to reconcile it with James, the brilliant, funny, prankster who looked so much like his dad but acted like his mom and… and…

It wasn't fair. After everything - after Kitty and Cody and after everything that James had been through with losing Vanessa and dealing with being Apocalypse's slave - it wasn't fair.

"So… so I guess we need to build some defenses, at least," Jubilee said at last, trying to blink out of her shock.

"Yes and no," Quentin said. "We need to seal things off so nothing gets in and also keep close watch to be sure nothing already has." He waved a hand Jubilee's way. "You can look for anything that shouldn't be here. There's no telling what this place should look like, but I'm going to guess it's different than his parents by a stretch."

Jubilee nodded, holding her elbows as she scrunched her nose up. "Yeah, okay, I'll just… patrol the nothing, then."

"Jubilee," Quentin said, visibly taking his drama down a notch. "I'm going for the defenses because I think you probably know what should and shouldn't be here. I don't. You know him - I don't … and for as tempting as it is to reshape his mind the way I would want to see it, the plan is to preserve him. I'm intrigued by a certified genius Howlett. Kindred spirit kind of thing - which makes me more reluctant to screw it up."

At that, Jubilee stopped, nodded, and let her breath out slowly. "Yeah. Thanks. It's just… I held him when he was born, okay? It's hard to see."

"All the more reason for you to be the one to try and keep him as himself."

Jubilee nodded again. Then, just because she couldn't help it, she smiled his way. "So, you should totally keep Gwen around if she's made you such a good person," she teased.

"First of all, she's been around for a long time already," Quentin said with one eyebrow raised. "And secondly, I am not. Stop that."

"Yeah, that's a big no, little buddy, don't think I can," she sang under her breath as she sat down with her legs crossed where the little photograph was. "But I know … you were a good person before. Wolvie said as much."

Quentin looked openly shocked to hear it as he tried to be patient, but honestly, even he could only do so much at once. Either he entertained Jubilee's insanity or he put in the kind of work that would make it hard for the Summerses to get through. And he knew which path would irritate Cable the most, so … in short order, he was working along the outer edges of James' psyche. It was hard to see when everything was so clean and blank and pure white … but it was still there.

Like any telepath, he put his own spin on things - setting traps as he went that were powerful enough and nasty enough to ensnare even the strongest telepaths if they were to go poking around. He wasn't banking on someone like Sinister for as quickly as he'd rabbited away from the fight in Egypt, but someone more nefarious could still creep along, and Quentin didn't like the idea of any of them hiding out in one of the Howletts. Not because he was fond of them. That was a ludicrous notion. No, he just didn't want someone like Cassandra Nova inside someone that was so stupidly hard to kill. He was pretty sure that she was back on her home planet, but Cable was right … this kind of wide open door even here on Earth would be tempting to those with the ability to possess it.

Quentin had been working in shifts with the Summers kids around the clock for days to shore up James' mind and make repairs where they could, so he was becoming familiar with the young man's mind. But he still wasn't somehow prepared to feel a hot breeze out of nowhere. He turned, frowning as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again, but if there was someone poking around already, they were trying to hide from Quentin. And nothing about a hot breeze seemed like it would line up with anything positive with this family. Not when the last hot place with the kid was Egypt with Apocalypse. And it was just enough that he didn't want to wait around to see what it might be.

Not knowing the origin, though, Quentin didn't want to warn anyone of what he was thinking before he pulled Nate and Rachel to him. I'm not going to tell you what I'm thinking, Quentin projected to them. But there is something hot here.

It's not the Phoenix, Rachel replied, sounding resolute but still shaken, all things considered. We stamped out the last embers of that fire, and it's locked away.

Okay, great, didn't think it was you, Quentin replied with a definite eye roll. You can ask the others to guard the door or come and look, but maybe put Jubilee in charge of guarding that picture. Not just watching it but safeguarding.

Betsy can stay with her too, Rachel said, one eyebrow raised.

Then Hope can stay back and watch over everyone, Quentin replied. I hope I don't have to focus enough to stop making my coffee, but if I do, she should keep track of everyone.

She's encouraging your girlfriend and Wade into a competition literally no one understands but them, Nate said in a longsuffering tone.

Welcome to my Wednesday afternoons. Quentin smirked as he watched Nate.

And my Sunday nights.

I didn't realize you two were that official. Isn't Sunday night generally reserved for family only? Quentin was snickering openly as he armored up for trouble even if they didn't know for sure there was any. Who or what are your biggest suspects?

Cyber hasn't had his own body in a long time, Nate said. Not to mention Cassandra Nova, Proteus or Shadow King.

What about Sinister? Rachel pointed out. She was working under Apocalypse when I-

Nate shook his head. Sinister's too busy sowing the seeds of his own death to bother looking this way right now. If he wasn't occupied, maybe, but not right now.

Rachel frowned but decided not to question Nate about that particular revelation until after they'd dealt with the more pressing matter. So, she narrowed her eyes. Malice or John Sublime, I suppose, she said slowly.

So … lots of telepathic parasites, Quentin summarized. You got a favorite? Because I don't mind telling you I would love to be able to inform Logan that I eradicated Cyber…

I don't think Cyber would be this subtle, Rachel said. But you're right: something is already poking around.

So we stop them from doing more than poking, Nate said, already on the move.

With Betsy and Jubilee watching over what was left of James' mind, Nate, Rachel, and Quentin fanned out until Rachel was the one to pick up on the faint heat of the wind Quentin had mentioned and reached out to the other two, rushing ahead until she was close enough to see the dark shape of the person behind the incursion.

Found him, she projected to the others. It's the Shadow King.

Betsy was even more on guard than she had been once Rachel had identified the problem, since she and Ahmal Farouk had a long and fitful background that had ended with him escaping the mental prison Betsy had him locked into. He'll play on your fears and your dreams and try to trap you in a mental maze, she projected out to the others. End him if you can.

On it, Rachel promised - though that wasn't entirely true, since she nearly immediately came to a stop when she realized that she could see embers in the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure if she was actually blazing with the power of the Phoenix or if it was a trick, but in the time it took her to double-check that, yes, the Phoenix was locked away, Farouk was already pushing his advantage.

What a fertile, open mind you've given me...

Not yours, Rachel shot back, her teeth gritted and her hands in fists.

Not until I throw you out of it. Which won't take too long, Farouk replied as his smoky shape shifted to something closer to what he used to be - unnaturally dark skin, slicked back hair, a tailored linen suit, and a greasy smile as he gestured around them appreciatively. This is your handiwork, isn't it?

Oh, go to hell, Rachel shot back, not in the mood to have anyone else poking at the immense guilt she already felt. So, she threw her hand out with a psychic attack of blazing red knives without a hint of real fire to them.

Farouk tutted, shifting to smoke to avoid her attack. "I truly do appreciate giving this mind such a clean start for me. It's so troublesome to deal with an occupied mind, and as I understand it, the body attached to this beautifully empty vessel is rather … durable. But for as much as I appreciate your work, alas, I do not think that I'll be needing your services again anytime soon. This body should last me for quite a while."

"You won't even get a joyride," Rachel shot back, this time reaching out to try to bind him in place, but doing that and holding back the too-recently empowered Phoenix was harder than she anticipated.

But then, that was the whole point of calling in powerful backup.

Nate was quick to sweep Rachel away from the counterattack she didn't even see coming as Farouk tried to hit her from behind while drawing her attention to himself as he grinned. He was already doing what he could to twist James' mindscape to his own whims, and that only made things harder for Rachel and Nate as they tried to keep ahead of the rules that Farouk was putting into play.

If we can keep him solid, we can end this faster, Rachel projected to Nate, frustrated by how easily Farouk had already flustered her. No matter how understandable it was for her to feel guilty and shaken standing in the ruins of what she'd done to James, she didn't think it was acceptable at all to have lost her standing like that.

That's not going to be easy with him adjusting for his mindscape already. If we don't put an end to this quickly, we'll be doing James more harm - which is probably what he's shooting for. Force us out before we destroy James.

Not gonna happen, Jubilee swore with everything about her telepathic presence screaming that she was ready to take down anyone who so much as looked at her precious photographic piece of James.

Still, it was hard to ignore that the bright white mindscape was already steadily darkening or that the wind seemed to be shifting - or that there was wind in the first place.

I can help more with you, Betsy projected. I know how to use his powers against him. I took some of his powers.

Do it, Nate replied. Rachel, help Jubilee.

Betsy entered the fight just as slippery and sneakily as Farouk had tried to attack Rachel - by using his own shadows as a conduit to creep closer to him. She was hidden seamlessly in his black-purple smoke until Betsy revealed herself by unsheathing her psychic blade far too close to Farouk for his comfort.

What the others hadn't expected was to see Betsy keeping close to Farouk as he shifted into smoke and slipped from one area to another. It seemed she knew exactly how to utilize his powers and hold to him tightly and he was cursing her in Persian the whole while. It was a much closer telepathic battle than most of the telepaths were comfortable with, especially as Betsy and Farouk kept morphing into smoke that swirled and spun in a way that made it hard to track, let alone intervene.

Then, Nate saw - just for an instant - that Betsy was struggling to bring her blade closer to Farouk, and he was pushing her back. She needed someone to lighten the press Farouk was making on her.

Nate rushed to keep up, shifting to flight rather than more mundane methods of travel. He knew he could take a shot - but doing so would be just as likely to hit Betsy as he was to hit Farouk. And telekinesis was touch and go at best on the psychic plane, so he tried to separate the two fighters. He was just set to start shouting at Quire to get with the group when he saw a flash of hot pink hair out of the corner of his eye.

What's taking you so long? Quire projected to Nate. Do it already!

Nate didn't have time to get annoyed by Quentin, though he did have his jaw locked as he finally managed to pull the Shadow King apart from Betsy.

As soon as there was some separation, Quentin made his first reasonable attack on him with a psychic shotgun opener that barely missed hitting Betsy.

Watch it, Nate grumbled, even as he and Betsy pulled a spectacular double-team on the Shadow King, using Betsy's ability to stick close to him to steer him closer to Nate in an attempt to exploit what he saw as a weaker player in the game, only for both of them to close ranks and pin him down for the first time since his arrival.

Once the telepaths in play were sure that the Shadow King was pinned - albeit with some difficulty - Quentin took the opening to attack. His focus was a lot more precision than the others had seen and not one of them was expecting Quentin to channel what seemed to be the blinding light of the sun in a laser precise attack on the Farouk.

The light paralyzed him - and in that same breath, Quentin's lip curled and he pressed forward with all his substantial power to atomize the Shadow King into the psychic realm at large - scattering him like ashes in the wind. He was careful, though, to be sure not one miniscule grain of Farouk was left behind in James' still open mind.

After all - if he was allowed to stay in a mind he had already started working on molding to his comfort, it would be an easy matter for a psi-talent of his caliber to find a way to get a foothold once again.

There was silence in James' mindscape for a good, long time as every single one of the telepaths there made doubly and triply sure that there was nothing left to threaten James' mind - erasing what the Shadow King had done.

Finally, Jubilee was the one to break the silence. "So… the family photo has a picture frame now. That's progress, right?"

Rachel did a double-take, since she had been standing in front of Jubilee ready to defend her as well as James' photograph and hadn't seen that bit of growth. But when she did see it, she sighed in relief and nodded, one hand on Jubilee's shoulder. "Yeah," she said in a pinched voice. "Yeah. There used to be a gallery here. We should hang it once it's rebuilt."

Progress in James' mind was slow-going, but it was, in fact, progress.

It helped that Quentin got immediately to work after the Shadow King's defeat on rebuilding the gallery as Rachel remembered it in James' mind. It would be healthiest for James to organically rebuild the pictures and memories themselves, but Quentin gave him the framework to hold his mind together to do so.

And with that framework in place, progress did, in fact, move at a quicker pace.

Smooth white walls sprouted up after Quentin set to laying out the walls' outline like a blueprint, and shortly after that, smooth marble made up the flooring inside the vast gallery. The pictures on the wall began with the family portrait at the center of his gallery, with a spotlight that made the image glow warmly.

After that, new pictures began to pop up, though they didn't look like there were people in them to start with. Beautiful scenery that started out with the view from his father's favorite cabin, snow-covered trees and rolling hills that ended at a frozen and bitterly cold looking Lake Superior with the northern lights dancing above … and that was the first clue that things were starting to shape up. Once Quentin took a good look at the picture with the Aurora borealis, the focus became sharper - the colors more vibrant - and when he got close to the photograph, he could see his breath hanging in the air near the frozen scene. What's more, the closer he got, the more the picture seemed to encompass, more like he was looking out of a window than simply at a static moment in time.

It was enough to earn an entertained smirk from Quentin. "And I was prepared to be disappointed with just a photo gallery," he said under his breath. "Not bad, shrimp."

All of the photos on the wall offered a glimpse - cherry trees in full bloom in Kyoto, a sun-baked beach in the south seas, autumn leaves of glowing golden yellow reaching over a roadway with the afternoon sun filtering through the leaves and setting the whole forest alight with a warm glow.

Every scene was becoming more and more complete, from the depth of the moments captured to the breezes, scents, and ambiance that enveloped the viewer from the moment they got close enough to truly experience the memories that shaped James' persona.

Once the memories in the photos began to form faster, Quentin was amused to see the marble floor give way to a pebbled, mossy path that seemed to lead outside to a vast garden that he was very sure didn't actually exist in the real world. There was a bridge that led over the top of a koi pond and a trickling waterfall surrounded by blooming flowers. The air was scented with plumeria and coconut, and Quentin frowned to himself as he tried to place the scent in his patient's memory. But once he reached for it, he was hit with a rush of emotion that nearly took his breath away. The boy was healing from the trauma of what Rachel had done, but as that injury was reversing itself, it became clear to Quentin that the damage from losing Vanessa wasn't going to be swept under the rug. The damage from that event had etched itself right into the most serene and peaceful spot that James had. It should have been reserved just for him, but …

As Quentin returned to the gallery, he realized that when there were no ambient scents attached to one picture or another, the scents that James associated with Vanessa were like a light echo everywhere else. The smells weren't strong enough to realize it right off - but the loss and first real heartbreak was discoloring everything else.

For a long moment, Quentin simply stared at the paintings while the scent recall for James brought up familiar, long-repressed memories for Quentin regarding Sophie, his long lost first love. He considered fixing that for James, since the kid had enough of a rough road ahead of him without adding that to the pile, but in a moment of wisdom that was becoming more and more frequent for him, he took a deep breath and a step back. That would be altering the James' personality and creating a rift between his memories and his inner self - good or bad, there was no way to tell which way it would fall, and ultimately, Quentin knew that part shouldn't be his call.

"If he needs it, that will be different," Quentin said to himself as he put his hands on his hips and looked around the gallery with a frown. When he turned around, there was a new photograph coming into focus and a few items on a pedestal that Quentin knew had not been there a moment ago. "Alright. You do this part. I'll go work on reinforcements for a while," Quentin said to the room at large. "If you have anything scarring to remember, please wait for Rachel or Nate to pull that into focus."