Then He Left
Summary:
AU diverging after No Man Left Behind
Not totally canon with the story, it is an AU.
Jesse remembers what Emma did, then realises something about the team.
This is an E/J story just not a particularly kind one.
Note:
This is my first attempt at fiction and I would appreciate any constructive comments/criticism that need to be made. Also note that I am from Scotland and use the UK English spelling.
Prologue:
"You'll never think that way about another person again"
"You don't know now"
The phrases, constantly changing but saying the same things over and over again, distracting him from his work. Nothing else was around to distract him, Brennan and Shalimar were out at some club or something, Emma away at some safe house with Adam. Only he was around, having to repair the Helix again.
"You don't know now"
What didn't he know, the phrase said with Emma's soft voice, the voice held a bit of an edge. He remembered looking at her outside the Helix, when she was being the "psychic watchdog". That was the first phrase, he knew Emma could read him, and he hadn't bothered about it before but now looking back, how much did she read him and was it only reading?
Thinking about it, he decided to check the Helix and Sanctuary logs for the mission to recover the weapon. As he was doing so, he went over the mission, flying in, moving to let Emma talk to Brennan, the other two going off, fixing the Helix, the approaching soldiers, Shalimar hanging over him, everyone getting back, the flight out, phasing the plane, everyone shouting at him. 'Wait a minute, what happened to the approaching soldiers?' he thought. He remembered Emma warning him, getting ready to fight, then that phrase, "you don't know now". What had happened?
He checked the logs, the logs showed him leaving the Helix when Emma called, Adam had left the channel open though. He heard faintly a few words being spoken between himself and Emma, not enough to hear what was said but to know that there was talking, then he saw himself walk into the Helix and tell Adam nothing had happened and got back to work. Nothing looked out of place, no indication of a fight or anything. He replayed the logs, filtering out the video feeds, listening only to the sounds, gradually he filtered out all but his and Emma's voice. He increased the volume. Then as he heard it, the memories flooded back. The shock and horror she had sent out hit him again, soon it was replaced by a growing anger at her.
He was angry, she didn't trust him, she abused his trust, violated his mind. Before it had been innocent reading, a bit of banter from it, but that day he realised that she had no qualms about altering his mind. Would she do this to the others as well, or just him? He sat, his mind racing, the others didn't know or did they, they hadn't been sharing things with him, only telling him what to do. Even Shalimar, his "big sister", was shouting at him in the plane, telling him to fix it, telling him to phase it, sure she was stressed but she knew how things affected him. Was he being too sensitive or was he realising something for the first time.
He constantly strove to attain Adam's approval, Brennan and the others got it without trying, so why was it so hard for him, Shalimar and Brennan always treated him as if he were a child, always telling him what to do and talking like he was their annoying little brother. Emma, the one person he thought would not do anything to him, the one he had been feeling a connection with recently, had openly threatened him about thoughts, thoughts that if she weren't telempathic she would not have heard, and now he found out that she had done something to his mind. His mind reeled, he felt physically sick, emotions he kept bottled inside threatening to overspill out to the outside world, his control shattered as everyone he knew took on a different persona.
Without thinking, without his usual thought process to mass out, he massed, smashing the computer in front of him. It felt good to let it out, he smashed the desk, the chair, pounded huge holes into the wall. Then he collapsed, the emotions fleeing from his body leaving him empty.
Without thinking, he rose, walking away from the wrecked room, uunconsciously phasing through doors as he made his way to his room. Solemnly, he packed his stuff into a bag, he only took a few clothes, the little money he had around, a few books and a picture of the team in happier times. He stopped to look at the picture, remembering when it was taken, then stopped himself from putting it in his bag. He held it in his hand while the other zipped up the bag and hoisted it onto his shoulder.
He walked to the main part of Sanctuary. On the steps to the training platform, he placed the picture, then massed his fist and smashed the glass, the impact point directly over his own face, the glass ripping into the picture. He placed his comm ring down in front of the picture, its unique design fading as it left his finger. He turned and left, stalking off into the night.
The next day:
Adam and Emma returned to Sanctuary, they were met by Brennan and Shalimar, who were asking if Jesse was with them. No one had spoken to him since the previous afternoon. As they entered the Sanctuary, they saw the devastation that Jesse had caused in the lab, their eyes taking in the destroyed computer, the holes and dents in the walls. No one dared to guess what had happened to Jesse.
Shalimar was the first to react, quickly moving out into the rest of Sanctuary, her senses actively looking for Jesse, she followed the scent of him to his room, and saw that his stuff was in disarray, and some of it was missing.
Brennan and Adam moved to another room, to find a computer, hoping to find access to the logs, to see what had happened to Jesse. Adam quickly called up the security logs, silently they watched the young man on screen, who at first seemed normal, quietly thinking, until a frown formed on his face, then all hell broke loose as he went on a rampage of destruction. Then they saw him collapse.
"Adam", Emma's soft voice called, laced with worry and trepidation, "Come to the training platform"
Everyone converged on the platform, Shalimar saying, "His stuff is a mess and some of it is missing, what had happened here?", anger was edging into her voice now, her hands itching to get whoever had done this.
"It was Jesse", Adam stated in a monotone voice, "Jesse caused the damage in the lab"
"Why?" Shalimar asked, "Where is he?"
Before Adam could answer, Emma said, "He's gone", her voice sounding very quiet and lost as she looked at the smashed picture, cradling Jesse's ring in her hands.
Resignation, anger and confusion went through the heads of the Mutant X team, as they looked at the smashed picture, a piece of glass cutting straight through the smiling face of Jesse.
End of Prologue
Summary:
AU diverging after No Man Left Behind
Not totally canon with the story, it is an AU.
Jesse remembers what Emma did, then realises something about the team.
This is an E/J story just not a particularly kind one.
Note:
This is my first attempt at fiction and I would appreciate any constructive comments/criticism that need to be made. Also note that I am from Scotland and use the UK English spelling.
Prologue:
"You'll never think that way about another person again"
"You don't know now"
The phrases, constantly changing but saying the same things over and over again, distracting him from his work. Nothing else was around to distract him, Brennan and Shalimar were out at some club or something, Emma away at some safe house with Adam. Only he was around, having to repair the Helix again.
"You don't know now"
What didn't he know, the phrase said with Emma's soft voice, the voice held a bit of an edge. He remembered looking at her outside the Helix, when she was being the "psychic watchdog". That was the first phrase, he knew Emma could read him, and he hadn't bothered about it before but now looking back, how much did she read him and was it only reading?
Thinking about it, he decided to check the Helix and Sanctuary logs for the mission to recover the weapon. As he was doing so, he went over the mission, flying in, moving to let Emma talk to Brennan, the other two going off, fixing the Helix, the approaching soldiers, Shalimar hanging over him, everyone getting back, the flight out, phasing the plane, everyone shouting at him. 'Wait a minute, what happened to the approaching soldiers?' he thought. He remembered Emma warning him, getting ready to fight, then that phrase, "you don't know now". What had happened?
He checked the logs, the logs showed him leaving the Helix when Emma called, Adam had left the channel open though. He heard faintly a few words being spoken between himself and Emma, not enough to hear what was said but to know that there was talking, then he saw himself walk into the Helix and tell Adam nothing had happened and got back to work. Nothing looked out of place, no indication of a fight or anything. He replayed the logs, filtering out the video feeds, listening only to the sounds, gradually he filtered out all but his and Emma's voice. He increased the volume. Then as he heard it, the memories flooded back. The shock and horror she had sent out hit him again, soon it was replaced by a growing anger at her.
He was angry, she didn't trust him, she abused his trust, violated his mind. Before it had been innocent reading, a bit of banter from it, but that day he realised that she had no qualms about altering his mind. Would she do this to the others as well, or just him? He sat, his mind racing, the others didn't know or did they, they hadn't been sharing things with him, only telling him what to do. Even Shalimar, his "big sister", was shouting at him in the plane, telling him to fix it, telling him to phase it, sure she was stressed but she knew how things affected him. Was he being too sensitive or was he realising something for the first time.
He constantly strove to attain Adam's approval, Brennan and the others got it without trying, so why was it so hard for him, Shalimar and Brennan always treated him as if he were a child, always telling him what to do and talking like he was their annoying little brother. Emma, the one person he thought would not do anything to him, the one he had been feeling a connection with recently, had openly threatened him about thoughts, thoughts that if she weren't telempathic she would not have heard, and now he found out that she had done something to his mind. His mind reeled, he felt physically sick, emotions he kept bottled inside threatening to overspill out to the outside world, his control shattered as everyone he knew took on a different persona.
Without thinking, without his usual thought process to mass out, he massed, smashing the computer in front of him. It felt good to let it out, he smashed the desk, the chair, pounded huge holes into the wall. Then he collapsed, the emotions fleeing from his body leaving him empty.
Without thinking, he rose, walking away from the wrecked room, uunconsciously phasing through doors as he made his way to his room. Solemnly, he packed his stuff into a bag, he only took a few clothes, the little money he had around, a few books and a picture of the team in happier times. He stopped to look at the picture, remembering when it was taken, then stopped himself from putting it in his bag. He held it in his hand while the other zipped up the bag and hoisted it onto his shoulder.
He walked to the main part of Sanctuary. On the steps to the training platform, he placed the picture, then massed his fist and smashed the glass, the impact point directly over his own face, the glass ripping into the picture. He placed his comm ring down in front of the picture, its unique design fading as it left his finger. He turned and left, stalking off into the night.
The next day:
Adam and Emma returned to Sanctuary, they were met by Brennan and Shalimar, who were asking if Jesse was with them. No one had spoken to him since the previous afternoon. As they entered the Sanctuary, they saw the devastation that Jesse had caused in the lab, their eyes taking in the destroyed computer, the holes and dents in the walls. No one dared to guess what had happened to Jesse.
Shalimar was the first to react, quickly moving out into the rest of Sanctuary, her senses actively looking for Jesse, she followed the scent of him to his room, and saw that his stuff was in disarray, and some of it was missing.
Brennan and Adam moved to another room, to find a computer, hoping to find access to the logs, to see what had happened to Jesse. Adam quickly called up the security logs, silently they watched the young man on screen, who at first seemed normal, quietly thinking, until a frown formed on his face, then all hell broke loose as he went on a rampage of destruction. Then they saw him collapse.
"Adam", Emma's soft voice called, laced with worry and trepidation, "Come to the training platform"
Everyone converged on the platform, Shalimar saying, "His stuff is a mess and some of it is missing, what had happened here?", anger was edging into her voice now, her hands itching to get whoever had done this.
"It was Jesse", Adam stated in a monotone voice, "Jesse caused the damage in the lab"
"Why?" Shalimar asked, "Where is he?"
Before Adam could answer, Emma said, "He's gone", her voice sounding very quiet and lost as she looked at the smashed picture, cradling Jesse's ring in her hands.
Resignation, anger and confusion went through the heads of the Mutant X team, as they looked at the smashed picture, a piece of glass cutting straight through the smiling face of Jesse.
End of Prologue