I finally got round to writing some more…yay for me! Admittedly I did write this while I was supposed to be doing homework but it was really boring homework and I can't control when muse decides to take my imagination for a ride. So totally not my fault! I hope you all like it; it might seem a bit confused so feel free to comment and criticize me all you like.

Anyway I hope you enjoy.

Have a nice day.

She didn't know why she had left. She had just had this sudden urge to get up and get away from everything going on around her. Previously everything had been in slow motion, blurred around the edges, she could only hear the murmur of peoples voices. It was like somebody had put a bag over her head and nothing was clear.

But suddenly the clarity had come back. Everybody was moving in real time and she could hear everything. There wasn't a lot in this place to hear other than her teammates and Gabriel, there wasn't a lot of life but the amount of noise made by a lack of existence was deafening. Suddenly everything had come into focus. Her feral senses had been switched back on and she could smell, hear, see, sense… everything. It had all been so abrupt and so in her face that she couldn't handle it.

Shalimar heard footsteps behind her. She knew without even having to turn around that it was Brennan. She could hear his footsteps, urgent, hasty and she could feel the vibrations they made through the ground beneath her. She wanted to turn around and fall into his arms and stay there until Gabriel and all the problems he brought with him went away. But even more than that she wanted to go to sleep. She needed to rest. She had no more energy inside her body and even the walk from the group to this side street had left her exhausted. She just wanted it to end.

And it looked like, pretty soon it would. The rain had calmed down to the point of stopping. Shalimar was no expert but she knew from what she had been told that weather reflected people's moods. If the rain was gradually coming to an end it had to mean Gabriel would take over soon and she would get to rest, to sit down and she would never have to worry about regaining her lost strength. It was an appropriate ending. Gabriel was going to win, Shalimar was going to lose. It made sense.

Brennan watched as Shalimar trudged down the side alley she had turned off the main street into. Shalimar had never trudged in her life, it wasn't in her nature as a feral nor was it in her personality to trudge. Brennan's heart cried out for her. He wanted to help but there was only so much he and the rest of Mutant X could do for Shal. Fighting Gabriel, that was where she had to take over, that was where she had to try. As Adam had already pointed out several times none of them could fight Gabriel and get him out of Shalimar's head but her.

Brennan looked into the sky. The clouds were parting and fading away but above them where there would normally be sky was nothing. It was just black. For the first time since entering Shalimar's world Brennan realized how dark it had become. The sun was a tiny ball of flame now. Brennan pulled his leather jacket around him tighter trying to keep out the oncoming cold and stop himself from getting too wet.

Suddenly Shalimar stopped walking. She stood there in silence; shoulders drooped, breathing heavily as if she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. She turned around and Brennan could see the exhausted look on her face. She couldn't go on much longer, in fact she didn't look like she could stand for one more minute. He ran forward and managed to catch her under her arms just as her knees buckled. He lowered her to the ground and knelt beside her, unsure as to what he should do. Should he go get Adam? He rejected the possibility as soon as it entered his head. He couldn't just leave Shalimar like this. He wouldn't.

She looked up into Brennan's worried face. She could feel the cold damp of the road soak through her thin top. She shivered and wondered where her jacket had gone. She knew she had had it tied around her waist when she'd got here but she must have dropped it when she was walking.

Brennan saw her shudder and quickly, completely disregarding his own welfare shrugged off his jacket. He gently picked her off the ground so she was in a sitting position and placed the jacket over her shoulders. He pulled her into his arms and they sat there for what seemed like hours just holding onto each other. Shalimar didn't have the strength to hold onto Brennan, she didn't have the strength to cry but she was more peaceful in his arms and seemed to be happier than she had been in a while.

Neither wanted to pull apart but eventually Brennan took Shalimar by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

'Shal, I don't know about you, but I would really love to get out of here some time soon. You think there's some way you could help me with that?'

Shalimar's eyes looked down. She didn't know what she had left, if anything. She wanted to help Mutant X like they had helped her plenty of times. They had been her family. Adam had been like a father to her, offering advice without judgement, help without limitations. She appreciated it more than he would ever know.

And Jesse had always been her brother, the rock in her world, the stable guy, who for the most part was always so strong for her. He may not have had a whole lot of life experience but he definitely knew how to make her feel better after one of those days.

And Emma. What hadn't Emma done? She had been a best friend to Shalimar the minute she had agreed to be a part of Mutant X. Shal knew that despite Emma's fragile façade she was the strongest member. If only Shalimar had that kind of strength she would have been able to get out of this a long time ago. Emma wouldn't even have let Gabriel into her mind in the first place.

Brennan wasn't like family. She had said that so many times, that Brennan was like her brother. But truth was, he really wasn't. They had had moments. Admittedly not a lot had come of them but you couldn't deny it. There was something between them, some kind of pull. They hadn't talked about it. They had just ignored it. Totally against type for both of them. Ordinarily Shalimar would have confronted whoever it was but Brennan was different. There was always the possibility that whatever was going on between them would screw up their relationship; that, in turn would screw up Mutant X. It was too much to risk.

Shalimar took a deep breath as she raised her head to look into Brennan's gorgeous brown eyes. She had to get over this for him. She had to deal with her fears for Mutant X.

'Okay,' she said quietly.

A look of relief passed over his face. Brennan knew it wasn't over. It wasn't over until Adam had checked out Shalimar back in Sanctuary but this was a start.

'Okay.'

He helped her to stand and when they were both standing, her a little unsteadily they looked at each other. He gave her a reassuring smile and they started walking back to where they had come from.

The sky was continuing to darken and the clouds were continuing to fade. As they got closer they could hear the murmur of voices.

Shalimar drew to a halt. Just because Brennan was there with her didn't mean she could beat Gabriel. He had too strong a hold on her mind. He wouldn't let go.

Brennan noticed Shalimar's reluctance to go on. He got that she was scared but surely it couldn't be this hard to face up to Gabriel knowing that there was no way he could fight back. But then he remembered…he had forgotten to tell Shalimar. Emma had told her when she was first in Shal's head but it probably hadn't sunk in.

'I don't know if this will make it easier, but Gabriel has no powers.'

Shalimar looked up at Brennan slowly. It was still an effort. But this was new and shiny information. It also didn't make anything vaguely resembling sense.

'Seriously,' Brennan carried on. 'Its your head. You wanna get rid of Gabriel and you can do it. He doesn't have control in here. He never did.' Brennan was hoping that if he could get Shalimar angry enough she'd snap. She'd go and get Gabriel and then she'd be mad enough to keep this little world going. He was sure that it was beautiful. It was Shalimar's…how could it not be?

Shalimar realized what Brennan was saying. Gabriel had kept her hostage in her own head by lying to her? She should have seen it sooner. It was such an obviously Gabriel thing to do. Why was she so blonde? He had been laughing at her behind her back the whole time. That was what annoyed her more than anything. Gabriel had run riot through her world, her mind, her life and he had had a good time doing it. How could someone live like that? Destroying other people's feelings for the fun of it.

And she wasn't even pissed off…well, maybe she was a little pissed off but at the same time she pitied him. He felt so hard done by, so mistreated that this was his biggest thrill in life? He gained happiness through other peoples misery. Someone like that deserved pity.

Brennan watched Shalimar for some kind of reaction. Her face was a blank. He couldn't tell if the new information had done its job or not and that worried him. Ordinarily Shal would have been off like a shot, ready to kick some serious ass. But she hadn't moved since he had told her.

Shalimar could feel Brennan's eyes searching her face for…something. He didn't seem satisfied by what he saw and she was getting serious anxiety vibes radiating from him. She was still trying to figure out what to do. She didn't want to go and kick the crap out of Gabriel because that would involve him getting the last laugh at seeing her so furious. But she had to get him out of here.