Apologies for the intense info blast in this chapter! Things are wrapping up.
Chapter 9
The hinges on the door were loose, swinging to one side as Shalimar pushed into the house. It looked the same as it had the last time they were here, clean and undisturbed. But this time there was someone here. A frightened face appeared in the door to the kitchen. Sarah, the mutant they had thought was dead, scampered into the hall beckoning them in.
"You could have knocked, y'know."
"Where is she?" Shalimar asked gruffly.
"She's upstairs. She was asleep last time I checked, don't disturb her, she needs her rest." Shalimar was away up the stairs before she had finished speaking. Standing on the landing she stood silent a moment, listening. When she was sure, she moved towards one of the doors. It was dark inside, heavy curtains drawn over the windows to block out the light. Taking a deep breath and preparing herself for disappointment, Shalimar stepped into the room.
"I found her. She was ill because of him, just like I had been, but she was worse. Figured he must have gotten worse too. So I"
"Brennan, Jesse." Shalimar interrupted. "Lets go, bring her with us. Maybe she can explain what's going on here." They both looked up and gaped at what they saw. Shalimar was coming down the stairs carrying Emma.
Emma, breathing deeply and steadily and, though asleep, very much alive.
They were all stood beside her, unable to give up the physical reassurance touch gave them. Not truly able to believe that she was really here, alive and safe in Sanctuary. Even Adam couldn't stop smiling. But it was time for answers and it seemed there was only one person who could give them.
"I am the real Sarah. That whatever he was, was some kind of New Mutant. I say he, but I don't know for sure if that was true. He couldn't remember who he was originally. He's always been someone else, as far back as he could remember. We spent a lot of time talking about him before he left. He wanted me to tell you about him in case he wasn't successful. What he did was take a genetic sample and convert his own DNA to copy it. He hid the small amount of his original DNA that survives the process in the junk DNA of the other person. Somehow his own personality survived each time. He had some kind of illness, an instability in his DNA, and when he took someone else's form he made some kind of link with them that meant they got ill as well, but he could keep the instability from killing him for a little longer. There's an explosion when he changes form that's not supposed to happen and he said it was because of this instability. When he first copied me it wasn't too bad, but it got worse the longer he looked like me. He had to keep changing people to stop this illness killing him, the worse he got the less time he could spend in any one form. He was looking for a way to get into Mutant X for help; he was looking for someone called Doctor Kane. After he had changed into another form I got better, I wasn't ill anymore. I found Emma a couple of days later and realised he'd taken on her form and she was ill like I had been. I could tell it was really bad when he didn't leave her after a couple of days like he said he would. I figured he'd got too ill to change. I kept her at home and looked after her. I only hoped she wouldn't die because he'd said that when he died he'd take who ever he was connected to with him. That was his worst fear. Killing someone when he died. I think he was ready to die, he'd been ill for so long. But he couldn't without hurting someone else.
"He wasn't a bad person, you should know that. He didn't mean to hurt your friend. He was just trying to stay alive long enough to get help. I thought he'd been fixed when I saw she was getting better. I thought he'd sent you to help her. At least he got what he wanted. He died and no one else got hurt in the process, right? I mean, Emma's going to be OK?"
"Yes, Emma's going to be fine. She'll be up and about in no time, thanks to you, I'm sure. We all owe you our thanks for looking after her."
Shalimar sat silently at Emma's side as Adam prepared Sarah for her transfer to the underground, as had originally been planned. Brennan squeezed her shoulder as he left to drive Sarah to the Safe house and Jesse just smiled.
Adam appeared at her side, after Jesse and Brennan had left with Sarah.
"You realise it was your connection with her that saved her."
"I wasn't sure."
"I am. There's no other way she could have survived what she did. You kept her tied down, here in this world."
"Are you sure she's going to be OK?"
"She's going to be fine. Everything's fine now."
"Yeah." She agreed, nodding slowly, a smile finally dawning. "Yeah, everything's going to be just fine."