Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X. But, I sure wish that I did, 'cause then
I would change the plots just a little, well, really a lot, but... I'm
ranting on now, aren't I? Well, I guess I'll just shut up. On with the
story!
Rating: PG
Summary: Emma hangs onto life with a thin thread as the others attempt to rescue her. Aspects of Jesse's past and his relationship with Emma are explored, as well as some of Adam's apparent feelings for his two younger team members. Concludes with the usage of powers no one thought Emma to have.
Oh yeah, just so my readers are aware, this has become an AU. Most of the ideas are NOT analogous with what has been occurring on the show this season and are just in my POV, although many of them are based on facts that I've found at the "faux" sites linked off of the official site, as well as evidence I've seen throughout various episodes which I feel has not been stressed enough. And please, READ AND REVIEW! Thanks ahead of time! :-) And just as a reminder, ~ ~ means someone's thoughts, and ^^^ ^^^ means a flashback.
Revelations
Chapter 6: Tribulation:Part 2
Let me fall. Let me climb. There's a moment when fear And dream must collide. -Quidam
Sanctuary
Looking up from one of the computers, Jesse managed to see a horrified look on Adam's face.
"What's wrong?" Jesse asked, setting down a wire that he was holding. Adam quickly squatted down and started throwing chunks of plaster all over around him in an attempt to uncover a body that he saw there beneath the plaster. Seeing the body laying motionless on the floor, Jesse dropped the two wires that he was holding and raced over to Adam. As Jesse rushed over, his shirt got caught on the edge of the desk, dragging him backwards into a live dangling wire.
"Ow, damn it!" Jesse winced from the shock as he jerked his body away from the wire. Adam paused and looked up momentarily at Jesse just standing there and rubbing his arm where it had gotten zapped. Jesse could see that Adam was obviously impatient already, so he shook his head slightly, determined to ignore the pain right now. Making his way through the lab to Adam, only more cautiously this time, Jesse was standing next to Adam several seconds later. Upon seeing a bloody foot and a bruised leg, Jesse bent down and started helping Adam move the chunks of plaster away to uncover the mangled body. It was obvious that it was a woman's body, but neither of them knew who's it was, nor did they have any recollection as to why this woman had been injured so horribly. A hand was soon uncovered, bruised and bloody, with a silver ring ingrained tightly around the woman's battered finger. Not paying much attention to it, Adam and Jesse kept working quickly. Reaching a huge, heavy chunk that covered the woman's torso, they both paused shocked at what they had uncovered- an unconscious Emma laying on her back.
Emma's pale arms were bruised and cut everywhere. Her fingertips were bluish from the lack of normal circulation. Her brown hair was matted with a mixture of dried blood and plaster dust. This mixture had also stained her face. Blood dripped from her lips, ever so slowly, traveling over a worn path of coagulated, dried blood.
"Oh my god, Emma," Adam whispered quietly. Beside him, Jesse just stood there, speechless, his mouth open in shock.
"Jesse, we gotta move this last chunk!" Adam mumbled to Jesse. Both of them bent down and tried desperately to lift the slab, but it just wouldn't budge.
"Hold on," Jesse said, motioning for Adam to step aside. Placing his hand on the plaster chunk, Jesse paused before phasing through it. Once his hands appeared underneath, Jesse grabbed Emma by the shoulders and pulled her back through the chunk. The plaster chunk fell to the floor with a thud and a cloud of smoke as Jesse un-phased both Emma and himself. Jesse laid Emma down gently, propping her up on the plaster pile. Trying hard to conceal his sensitive emotions, Jesse squeezed his eyes tightly shut to keep his tears from falling, opening them again only to see Emma lying motionless on the pile, her breathing barely visible to the two onlookers. He couldn't stand to see Emma like this. He loved her so much, sometimes more than just a friend or teammate, but he knew that she didn't return these feelings of romantic love almost ever. But they were friends, very good friends. They had started off on the wrong foot when they first met, but as Emma stayed with the team longer, she slowly opened up, especially to Adam and him. Adam had always been there for her when she needed help or was in trouble, and likewise, she had slowly grown into the same role for him through what she had termed "night visits". ~Night visits~ Jesse thought with a little smile as he stood there squatting, recalling to himself what "night visits" had meant to both of them.
^^^Jesse's Flashback^^^ Since he was a teenager, he had found it difficult to sleep almost every night. The sleeping problems had continued even after he had come to be with Adam. He would often find himself wandering around Sanctuary for hours at the dead of night, strolling around in hopes that someone would come and help him or at least talk to him. But no one ever did, that was, not until Emma came. Apparently she couldn't sleep either. Late one night, not that long after Emma had come to be with the team, they were both roaming around Sanctuary when they accidentally ran into each other. Surprised that someone else was actually up, both of them just stood where they were staring at each other for several minutes. Emma was the braver one and spoke up first.
"Would you like to come with me to the water garden?" she asked shyly as she stared at the ground, embarrassed that someone would now know about her night walks. Looking up to see what his answer would be, she looked so innocent to him with her big eyes quivering ever so slightly in fear as if she expected him to hit her or something. That was the moment when he had fallen for her. His love for her only grew more each day from that night on. Smiling slightly, he shook his head yes before reaching out his hand to grab hers. Jumping back quickly, Emma gasped in shock and closed her eyes as if expecting a slap. But the slap didn't come, and Jesse, embarrassed that he had scared her, blushed bright red.
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Jesse whispered in a comforting manner. Emma stopped cowering and looked up at him unsurely with naive innocence.
"Hey, getting beat up is the bad guys job," he whispered trying to make her feel more comfortable. Smiling, they both laughed out loud, together.
"Hey there pretty," a male voice echoed through the hallway. Both of them froze and stopped laughing.
"Come here and let super Brennan rescue you." It was just Brennan sleep talking- again. Smirking, Jesse stared at Emma, eyes twinkling with withheld laughter. Emma tried hard not to laugh, covering up her mouth to stifle her giggling. Still smiling, Emma pointed towards the water garden with questioning looks. Nodding his head yes again, Emma ran ahead, quietly, as Jesse slowly walked over. Emma stood there waiting for him, and they both sat down, facing each other, the water bubbling quietly by their side. They talked to each other for hours, explaining to each other why neither of them could sleep, their whispers being mingled with the sound of the water, making their conversation inaudible for everyone else. The two whispered to each other until the sunlight glazed over the water beside them. Emma's eyes had finally grown heavy. She had been a great listener to all of his feelings and problems, and even helped him to feel better. But now as he spoke to her again, she yawned slowly before smiling. He stopped talking, aware that she was exhausted.
"You're tired." he started to say.
"I know," Emma whispered slowly, as she lay down on the floor next to him. In just a few minutes, her breathing had become regular, signaling that she was finally asleep. Jesse smiled before picking Emma up. She stirred slightly and said something incoherent as he quietly carried her back to her room and laid her in her bed, tucking the covers tightly around her. Sneaking out of her room and back to his own before the others would wake up, Jesse was happy knowing that he had made a friend that night, a friend who was willing to stay up with him and listen to his ranting and complaining without getting upset. Finally, he lay down in his own bed and went to sleep, more relaxed now that he had talked to Emma. And from that day on, whenever one of them couldn't sleep, which occurred quite often, the other would get up and they would talk to each other quietly by the water garden, their relationship growing more and more each time. As time went on, they began trusting each other more and they both started to tell each other things that they were too afraid to tell the others. And this was how their relationship had grown through what Emma had code termed to be "night visits". ^^^ End flashback^^^
Coming back to the present, Jesse grabbed Emma's right hand softly, holding it in a comforting manner in his own hands, just like he had done numerous times before during their night visits. He just could not bear the thought of losing his best friend. Within moments, Adam grabbed her other hand. A tear trickled down Adam's face as he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it softly.
"Come on Emma," Adam whispered distraughtly, seeing her chest barely heave upwards. Emma was hanging onto life by a very thin thread. Had the lab not been destroyed, Adam would have rushed her to a med chair and treated her quickly. Treating her would not have been a problem had his lab been fully functioning, but obviously, that was not an option now. Going back to the bare bone basics, Adam knew that he only had two options left to save her.
~ CPR? ~ was Adam's first thought of helping her. But as he placed his hands over her diaphragm and started to push down, blood seeped from a cut near her lower left rib. Stopping immediately, Adam shook his head sadly, bringing his hand up to his face in disappointment.
"Emma!" Jesse gasped at the sight. Running out of hope, Jesse looked around the lab desperately looking for something to help Emma.
"There's only one more thing that we can try, Jesse," Adam told Jesse, acknowledging that Emma's fate may be near. "Oxygen, from one of the tanks that I have. had in here." As he finished speaking, Adam noticed a dinged gas tank far in the corner.
~ Oxygen ~ Adam could barely see on the label.
"Jesse, go grab that tank!" Adam ordered, as he motioned to the corner. Jesse ran over and got it quickly, breaking the broken glass he stepped on into smaller pieces as he smashed it carelessly. His only thought was of saving his friend, even if he got hurt in the process. Setting down the tank and handing the dispersal funnel to Adam, Jesse cranked the supply knob to its highest output level. Adam grabbed the funnel and hastily placed it over Emma's face. Freezing, they both sat there squatting, hoping for a miracle to happen.
Several seconds later, Emma's eyes fluttered open, as she started gasping and coughing up the blood that had been slowly suffocating her. Adam threw off the funnel and placed his hands softly on Emma's dirty and cut shoulders, grateful that Death did not cut her thread and take her from them.
"Thank god, Emma. We thought that we were going to lose you," Adam said gratefully, staring at Emma's dark blue eyes with compassion. Emma closed her eyes momentarily as she wiped the dust and blood off her face unknowingly. Bringing her hands down in front of her, Emma stared at the blood and plaster dust with confusion.
"What happened to me?" Emma gasped in horror, shaking her head in disbelief. Adam and Jesse's relief vanished.
"You don't remember what happened?" Adam questioned, as both he and Jesse's eyes grew wide with shock. No one had any recollection of what had happened or even who had destroyed the med lab. Emma stared at Adam blankly, then turned to look at Jesse's reaction. Behind them, she saw that the med lab was in complete ruin. But, as Emma tried to recall what had just happened to her in the lab, all she found were short flashes of images as her memories. Worse yet, the more she tried to recall what happened, the less she seemed to remember. It was as if she tapped into what little memories of the event she had left, someone was taking those images away from her. Still scouring through her memories, Emma turned her gaze back towards Adam and Jesse squatting next to her.
~* Ow *~ she winced as she turned her neck, pain radiating from her neck then down her back. Within seconds, Emma had the strangest feeling of numbness in her legs, but she had no clue as to why. Looking down, she could see cuts and bruises all over her legs that hurt, but in the strangest way. The gash below her rib hurt greatly, making every breath for her painful. Staring at the gory gash in shock, Emma grew nauseous and dizzy. Emma closed her eyes momentarily, letting her head drop down slowly, as shock set in.
"Emma!" Adam and Jesse gasped simultaneously. Adam reached down and grabbed her head, lifting it back up as Jesse grabbed hold of her hand. Emma knew that her body had gone into shock and that her blood pressure was falling quickly. Swallowing slowly, she made up her mind to use her powers to remove her pain. Closing off parts of her mind, she encapsulated her pain and the emotions involved with them and sent them away, careful as to not hit Jesse or Adam with them.
"I'm fine, guys," she said weakly staring into Adam's dark eyes. He was obviously worried as was Jesse. Emma could not let on to them how much pain she had been in. They would deem her weak, like they always did, and she just hated that.
"Really, I'm fine," Emma stated again, only stronger this time, even though she really didn't feel that way. Adam gave her doubtful glances, his dark eyes still full of worry. Yet, Jesse just stood there torn. Even he could sense that Emma was not okay, but he also knew that she didn't like being likened to a weakling, another topic that they had both discussed during their night visits, which strange enough, they both felt the same way on. Just because they were the youngest and least experienced, everyone on the team always seemed to treat them as being weaker or even worthless. Brennan had been the most outright with them stating this bluntly to both of them, and although they regretted hearing it, it gave them a base to grow from. Both of them decided that they were going to prove Brennan and the others wrong, and show that they were indeed needed by the team and that they were just as strong and useful as the others. So, deciding that he would stick by his friend and protect her in a sense, he spoke up after the short awkward silence.
"Why don't we take her somewhere more comfortable," Jesse suggested, offering out his hand to help Emma up. Agreeing, Adam nodded his head slightly.
"We're going to help you upstairs. Does that sound okay?" Adam asked Emma, sounding as if he were talking to a little girl instead of the grown woman that Emma was. Emma noticed this, and had this been any other time, she would have protested the childish treatment. But right now, she was just too tired to fight, and instead just nodded her head in agreement.
Bending over, the two of them grabbed her arms, helping to pull her to a standing position. But as Emma set her feet on the floor, she felt her legs tingle just slightly before giving out. Falling back to the floor and dragging the others along with her, she watched as her world got turned upside down. It didn't take long for Emma to connect what her legs had felt only minutes earlier to what must have ultimately happened to her.
Emma gasped, shocked at her realization, as Adam and Jesse caught her and pulled her back up to a standing position, both of them glancing at her with perplexed looks.
"I don't think that I can walk by my." Emma answered their questioning stares, worried and scared. Jesse and Adam stared at her in shock, unmoving for several seconds. Realizing the impact of what she had just said, Emma stopped speaking mid-sentence and stared, mortified, at the others. Another awkward silence followed for several seconds.
~* I can't let them know this. *~ Emma panicked, knowing that she had just portrayed her current weakness to the one person who would use that against her as an excuse for her to stay at Sanctuary while the others went out and fought the bad guys. That one person who was always holding her back was Adam. Little did she know that there was a reason that Adam acted in this way, a reason that he had never told anyone else on the team. Emma knew what had to be done to protect herself from Adam's excuses, and quickly decided on a solution.
"Emma, are you sure?" Adam asked her. Emma nodded her head yes, glancing remorsefully at Jesse's blue naive eyes, her conscience already feeling guilty for what she was about to do to her closest friend. She couldn't do it now, at least not yet. Still staring at him, she telepathically asked him for help instead.
"Why don't I carry her up?" Jesse recommended as he smiled innocently at Emma, unaware that she was manipulating him.
"Okay. Let's get out of here," Adam replied slightly annoyed, turning quickly to leave, walking back through his ruined lab in anguish. Jesse bent down and lifted Emma up, holding her close to him, thankful that his best friend was still alive to be with him.
"Thank you, Jess," Emma whispered, resting her head on his chest. Smiling at her, Jesse carried Emma out through the lab, through the hallway, and up the stairs to the mess area, setting her down carefully on a long, black sofa. Jesse helped Emma to straighten her legs out and move them onto the sofa, propping her back up with several pillows so that she could see the others without having to move around much. Turning around, Jesse went to go help Adam, who was already viewing Sanctuary's closed circuit cams, when Jesse walked over.
Emma watched Jesse walk away from her. He stood peering behind Adam's shoulder, soaking in the images as they appeared on the screen, yet his body was blocking them from her view. Creating a telepathic link through Jesse's brain and optic nerve, Emma was able to view everything that Jesse was seeing through his eyes. Emma sat on the sofa as if in a trance, eyes open wide, as she absorbed and analyzed the images.
"Anything yet?" Jesse asked from standing behind Adam, as he glanced towards the playbacks that Adam was watching.
"Strangely, no. This was Sanctuary three hours ago, and everything looks fine. You were still in the med lab recovering, there was no one up here in the mess hall, the hallways were empty, no one was near the water garden, and Emma was in the dojo sleeping."
"Wait a sec. Play that last clip from the dojo again," Jesse interrupted. Playing it back, they watched it again.
"See, did you see that, that aura over Emma!" Taking control of the keyboard, Jesse played it back again, pausing it at the spot where he had seen that halo.
"What the." Adam started to say, before both of them glanced at Emma. Breaking her telepathic link, Emma stared at them quietly for a moment. She had analyzed the images using her retro cognition and had already formulated what had happened. Yet, she was in a predicament as to what to do. Should she tell them and risk Adam's insults of being weak, or bury it, like she had done so with many things in her life, just to protect herself. Shaking her head slightly, she decided on the second choice, determined to complete her earlier solution no matter what.
"Emma," Adam started to say to her. But it was too late for them. Emma would not take the chance of them finding out about her past.
"I'm sorry, guys," Emma whispered, gathering energy and activating a part of her that she rarely used. Around her head, a white nimbus glowed momentarily before the light radiated towards Jesse and Adam, touching every corner of Sanctuary in moments.
Adam and Jesse fell to the floor, grabbing their heads and screaming out in pain. Emma slid her legs slowly off the edge of the sofa and glided over to them. Touching Jesse's face first, she held it between her dirty, bloody hands, a weak light passing from her. Jesse stopped yelling, and stood up calmly, towering over Emma as she crouched, intent on doing the same thing to Adam. Standing back up, Emma's eyes glowed white, as she stared past each of their eyes, telepathically altering their minds and memories. Jesse and Adam both smiled, and turned different ways, heading to where Emma had told them to go.
Gliding over to the computer chair, Emma sat down and placed her hand in front of the screen. The images on the playback flashed by quickly, jumping out of the screen and into Emma's hand. When the images stopped flowing, she brought her hand back, the screen going black as the computer turned off. Gliding back to the sofa, Emma lay down, grabbing the blankets from the nearby table and pulling them up to her chin, her energy worn out. Closing her eyes, she slept peacefully, once more.
TBC.
A/N: I hope you liked it. If you did, please review and give me your comments or suggestions. I promise you that the next chapter will be very interesting and will be updated sooner depending on the number of reviews that I get. Seeing that it was my birthday this last week, reviews would be a great present (hint, hint). (
Rating: PG
Summary: Emma hangs onto life with a thin thread as the others attempt to rescue her. Aspects of Jesse's past and his relationship with Emma are explored, as well as some of Adam's apparent feelings for his two younger team members. Concludes with the usage of powers no one thought Emma to have.
Oh yeah, just so my readers are aware, this has become an AU. Most of the ideas are NOT analogous with what has been occurring on the show this season and are just in my POV, although many of them are based on facts that I've found at the "faux" sites linked off of the official site, as well as evidence I've seen throughout various episodes which I feel has not been stressed enough. And please, READ AND REVIEW! Thanks ahead of time! :-) And just as a reminder, ~ ~ means someone's thoughts, and ^^^ ^^^ means a flashback.
Revelations
Chapter 6: Tribulation:Part 2
Let me fall. Let me climb. There's a moment when fear And dream must collide. -Quidam
Sanctuary
Looking up from one of the computers, Jesse managed to see a horrified look on Adam's face.
"What's wrong?" Jesse asked, setting down a wire that he was holding. Adam quickly squatted down and started throwing chunks of plaster all over around him in an attempt to uncover a body that he saw there beneath the plaster. Seeing the body laying motionless on the floor, Jesse dropped the two wires that he was holding and raced over to Adam. As Jesse rushed over, his shirt got caught on the edge of the desk, dragging him backwards into a live dangling wire.
"Ow, damn it!" Jesse winced from the shock as he jerked his body away from the wire. Adam paused and looked up momentarily at Jesse just standing there and rubbing his arm where it had gotten zapped. Jesse could see that Adam was obviously impatient already, so he shook his head slightly, determined to ignore the pain right now. Making his way through the lab to Adam, only more cautiously this time, Jesse was standing next to Adam several seconds later. Upon seeing a bloody foot and a bruised leg, Jesse bent down and started helping Adam move the chunks of plaster away to uncover the mangled body. It was obvious that it was a woman's body, but neither of them knew who's it was, nor did they have any recollection as to why this woman had been injured so horribly. A hand was soon uncovered, bruised and bloody, with a silver ring ingrained tightly around the woman's battered finger. Not paying much attention to it, Adam and Jesse kept working quickly. Reaching a huge, heavy chunk that covered the woman's torso, they both paused shocked at what they had uncovered- an unconscious Emma laying on her back.
Emma's pale arms were bruised and cut everywhere. Her fingertips were bluish from the lack of normal circulation. Her brown hair was matted with a mixture of dried blood and plaster dust. This mixture had also stained her face. Blood dripped from her lips, ever so slowly, traveling over a worn path of coagulated, dried blood.
"Oh my god, Emma," Adam whispered quietly. Beside him, Jesse just stood there, speechless, his mouth open in shock.
"Jesse, we gotta move this last chunk!" Adam mumbled to Jesse. Both of them bent down and tried desperately to lift the slab, but it just wouldn't budge.
"Hold on," Jesse said, motioning for Adam to step aside. Placing his hand on the plaster chunk, Jesse paused before phasing through it. Once his hands appeared underneath, Jesse grabbed Emma by the shoulders and pulled her back through the chunk. The plaster chunk fell to the floor with a thud and a cloud of smoke as Jesse un-phased both Emma and himself. Jesse laid Emma down gently, propping her up on the plaster pile. Trying hard to conceal his sensitive emotions, Jesse squeezed his eyes tightly shut to keep his tears from falling, opening them again only to see Emma lying motionless on the pile, her breathing barely visible to the two onlookers. He couldn't stand to see Emma like this. He loved her so much, sometimes more than just a friend or teammate, but he knew that she didn't return these feelings of romantic love almost ever. But they were friends, very good friends. They had started off on the wrong foot when they first met, but as Emma stayed with the team longer, she slowly opened up, especially to Adam and him. Adam had always been there for her when she needed help or was in trouble, and likewise, she had slowly grown into the same role for him through what she had termed "night visits". ~Night visits~ Jesse thought with a little smile as he stood there squatting, recalling to himself what "night visits" had meant to both of them.
^^^Jesse's Flashback^^^ Since he was a teenager, he had found it difficult to sleep almost every night. The sleeping problems had continued even after he had come to be with Adam. He would often find himself wandering around Sanctuary for hours at the dead of night, strolling around in hopes that someone would come and help him or at least talk to him. But no one ever did, that was, not until Emma came. Apparently she couldn't sleep either. Late one night, not that long after Emma had come to be with the team, they were both roaming around Sanctuary when they accidentally ran into each other. Surprised that someone else was actually up, both of them just stood where they were staring at each other for several minutes. Emma was the braver one and spoke up first.
"Would you like to come with me to the water garden?" she asked shyly as she stared at the ground, embarrassed that someone would now know about her night walks. Looking up to see what his answer would be, she looked so innocent to him with her big eyes quivering ever so slightly in fear as if she expected him to hit her or something. That was the moment when he had fallen for her. His love for her only grew more each day from that night on. Smiling slightly, he shook his head yes before reaching out his hand to grab hers. Jumping back quickly, Emma gasped in shock and closed her eyes as if expecting a slap. But the slap didn't come, and Jesse, embarrassed that he had scared her, blushed bright red.
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," Jesse whispered in a comforting manner. Emma stopped cowering and looked up at him unsurely with naive innocence.
"Hey, getting beat up is the bad guys job," he whispered trying to make her feel more comfortable. Smiling, they both laughed out loud, together.
"Hey there pretty," a male voice echoed through the hallway. Both of them froze and stopped laughing.
"Come here and let super Brennan rescue you." It was just Brennan sleep talking- again. Smirking, Jesse stared at Emma, eyes twinkling with withheld laughter. Emma tried hard not to laugh, covering up her mouth to stifle her giggling. Still smiling, Emma pointed towards the water garden with questioning looks. Nodding his head yes again, Emma ran ahead, quietly, as Jesse slowly walked over. Emma stood there waiting for him, and they both sat down, facing each other, the water bubbling quietly by their side. They talked to each other for hours, explaining to each other why neither of them could sleep, their whispers being mingled with the sound of the water, making their conversation inaudible for everyone else. The two whispered to each other until the sunlight glazed over the water beside them. Emma's eyes had finally grown heavy. She had been a great listener to all of his feelings and problems, and even helped him to feel better. But now as he spoke to her again, she yawned slowly before smiling. He stopped talking, aware that she was exhausted.
"You're tired." he started to say.
"I know," Emma whispered slowly, as she lay down on the floor next to him. In just a few minutes, her breathing had become regular, signaling that she was finally asleep. Jesse smiled before picking Emma up. She stirred slightly and said something incoherent as he quietly carried her back to her room and laid her in her bed, tucking the covers tightly around her. Sneaking out of her room and back to his own before the others would wake up, Jesse was happy knowing that he had made a friend that night, a friend who was willing to stay up with him and listen to his ranting and complaining without getting upset. Finally, he lay down in his own bed and went to sleep, more relaxed now that he had talked to Emma. And from that day on, whenever one of them couldn't sleep, which occurred quite often, the other would get up and they would talk to each other quietly by the water garden, their relationship growing more and more each time. As time went on, they began trusting each other more and they both started to tell each other things that they were too afraid to tell the others. And this was how their relationship had grown through what Emma had code termed to be "night visits". ^^^ End flashback^^^
Coming back to the present, Jesse grabbed Emma's right hand softly, holding it in a comforting manner in his own hands, just like he had done numerous times before during their night visits. He just could not bear the thought of losing his best friend. Within moments, Adam grabbed her other hand. A tear trickled down Adam's face as he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it softly.
"Come on Emma," Adam whispered distraughtly, seeing her chest barely heave upwards. Emma was hanging onto life by a very thin thread. Had the lab not been destroyed, Adam would have rushed her to a med chair and treated her quickly. Treating her would not have been a problem had his lab been fully functioning, but obviously, that was not an option now. Going back to the bare bone basics, Adam knew that he only had two options left to save her.
~ CPR? ~ was Adam's first thought of helping her. But as he placed his hands over her diaphragm and started to push down, blood seeped from a cut near her lower left rib. Stopping immediately, Adam shook his head sadly, bringing his hand up to his face in disappointment.
"Emma!" Jesse gasped at the sight. Running out of hope, Jesse looked around the lab desperately looking for something to help Emma.
"There's only one more thing that we can try, Jesse," Adam told Jesse, acknowledging that Emma's fate may be near. "Oxygen, from one of the tanks that I have. had in here." As he finished speaking, Adam noticed a dinged gas tank far in the corner.
~ Oxygen ~ Adam could barely see on the label.
"Jesse, go grab that tank!" Adam ordered, as he motioned to the corner. Jesse ran over and got it quickly, breaking the broken glass he stepped on into smaller pieces as he smashed it carelessly. His only thought was of saving his friend, even if he got hurt in the process. Setting down the tank and handing the dispersal funnel to Adam, Jesse cranked the supply knob to its highest output level. Adam grabbed the funnel and hastily placed it over Emma's face. Freezing, they both sat there squatting, hoping for a miracle to happen.
Several seconds later, Emma's eyes fluttered open, as she started gasping and coughing up the blood that had been slowly suffocating her. Adam threw off the funnel and placed his hands softly on Emma's dirty and cut shoulders, grateful that Death did not cut her thread and take her from them.
"Thank god, Emma. We thought that we were going to lose you," Adam said gratefully, staring at Emma's dark blue eyes with compassion. Emma closed her eyes momentarily as she wiped the dust and blood off her face unknowingly. Bringing her hands down in front of her, Emma stared at the blood and plaster dust with confusion.
"What happened to me?" Emma gasped in horror, shaking her head in disbelief. Adam and Jesse's relief vanished.
"You don't remember what happened?" Adam questioned, as both he and Jesse's eyes grew wide with shock. No one had any recollection of what had happened or even who had destroyed the med lab. Emma stared at Adam blankly, then turned to look at Jesse's reaction. Behind them, she saw that the med lab was in complete ruin. But, as Emma tried to recall what had just happened to her in the lab, all she found were short flashes of images as her memories. Worse yet, the more she tried to recall what happened, the less she seemed to remember. It was as if she tapped into what little memories of the event she had left, someone was taking those images away from her. Still scouring through her memories, Emma turned her gaze back towards Adam and Jesse squatting next to her.
~* Ow *~ she winced as she turned her neck, pain radiating from her neck then down her back. Within seconds, Emma had the strangest feeling of numbness in her legs, but she had no clue as to why. Looking down, she could see cuts and bruises all over her legs that hurt, but in the strangest way. The gash below her rib hurt greatly, making every breath for her painful. Staring at the gory gash in shock, Emma grew nauseous and dizzy. Emma closed her eyes momentarily, letting her head drop down slowly, as shock set in.
"Emma!" Adam and Jesse gasped simultaneously. Adam reached down and grabbed her head, lifting it back up as Jesse grabbed hold of her hand. Emma knew that her body had gone into shock and that her blood pressure was falling quickly. Swallowing slowly, she made up her mind to use her powers to remove her pain. Closing off parts of her mind, she encapsulated her pain and the emotions involved with them and sent them away, careful as to not hit Jesse or Adam with them.
"I'm fine, guys," she said weakly staring into Adam's dark eyes. He was obviously worried as was Jesse. Emma could not let on to them how much pain she had been in. They would deem her weak, like they always did, and she just hated that.
"Really, I'm fine," Emma stated again, only stronger this time, even though she really didn't feel that way. Adam gave her doubtful glances, his dark eyes still full of worry. Yet, Jesse just stood there torn. Even he could sense that Emma was not okay, but he also knew that she didn't like being likened to a weakling, another topic that they had both discussed during their night visits, which strange enough, they both felt the same way on. Just because they were the youngest and least experienced, everyone on the team always seemed to treat them as being weaker or even worthless. Brennan had been the most outright with them stating this bluntly to both of them, and although they regretted hearing it, it gave them a base to grow from. Both of them decided that they were going to prove Brennan and the others wrong, and show that they were indeed needed by the team and that they were just as strong and useful as the others. So, deciding that he would stick by his friend and protect her in a sense, he spoke up after the short awkward silence.
"Why don't we take her somewhere more comfortable," Jesse suggested, offering out his hand to help Emma up. Agreeing, Adam nodded his head slightly.
"We're going to help you upstairs. Does that sound okay?" Adam asked Emma, sounding as if he were talking to a little girl instead of the grown woman that Emma was. Emma noticed this, and had this been any other time, she would have protested the childish treatment. But right now, she was just too tired to fight, and instead just nodded her head in agreement.
Bending over, the two of them grabbed her arms, helping to pull her to a standing position. But as Emma set her feet on the floor, she felt her legs tingle just slightly before giving out. Falling back to the floor and dragging the others along with her, she watched as her world got turned upside down. It didn't take long for Emma to connect what her legs had felt only minutes earlier to what must have ultimately happened to her.
Emma gasped, shocked at her realization, as Adam and Jesse caught her and pulled her back up to a standing position, both of them glancing at her with perplexed looks.
"I don't think that I can walk by my." Emma answered their questioning stares, worried and scared. Jesse and Adam stared at her in shock, unmoving for several seconds. Realizing the impact of what she had just said, Emma stopped speaking mid-sentence and stared, mortified, at the others. Another awkward silence followed for several seconds.
~* I can't let them know this. *~ Emma panicked, knowing that she had just portrayed her current weakness to the one person who would use that against her as an excuse for her to stay at Sanctuary while the others went out and fought the bad guys. That one person who was always holding her back was Adam. Little did she know that there was a reason that Adam acted in this way, a reason that he had never told anyone else on the team. Emma knew what had to be done to protect herself from Adam's excuses, and quickly decided on a solution.
"Emma, are you sure?" Adam asked her. Emma nodded her head yes, glancing remorsefully at Jesse's blue naive eyes, her conscience already feeling guilty for what she was about to do to her closest friend. She couldn't do it now, at least not yet. Still staring at him, she telepathically asked him for help instead.
"Why don't I carry her up?" Jesse recommended as he smiled innocently at Emma, unaware that she was manipulating him.
"Okay. Let's get out of here," Adam replied slightly annoyed, turning quickly to leave, walking back through his ruined lab in anguish. Jesse bent down and lifted Emma up, holding her close to him, thankful that his best friend was still alive to be with him.
"Thank you, Jess," Emma whispered, resting her head on his chest. Smiling at her, Jesse carried Emma out through the lab, through the hallway, and up the stairs to the mess area, setting her down carefully on a long, black sofa. Jesse helped Emma to straighten her legs out and move them onto the sofa, propping her back up with several pillows so that she could see the others without having to move around much. Turning around, Jesse went to go help Adam, who was already viewing Sanctuary's closed circuit cams, when Jesse walked over.
Emma watched Jesse walk away from her. He stood peering behind Adam's shoulder, soaking in the images as they appeared on the screen, yet his body was blocking them from her view. Creating a telepathic link through Jesse's brain and optic nerve, Emma was able to view everything that Jesse was seeing through his eyes. Emma sat on the sofa as if in a trance, eyes open wide, as she absorbed and analyzed the images.
"Anything yet?" Jesse asked from standing behind Adam, as he glanced towards the playbacks that Adam was watching.
"Strangely, no. This was Sanctuary three hours ago, and everything looks fine. You were still in the med lab recovering, there was no one up here in the mess hall, the hallways were empty, no one was near the water garden, and Emma was in the dojo sleeping."
"Wait a sec. Play that last clip from the dojo again," Jesse interrupted. Playing it back, they watched it again.
"See, did you see that, that aura over Emma!" Taking control of the keyboard, Jesse played it back again, pausing it at the spot where he had seen that halo.
"What the." Adam started to say, before both of them glanced at Emma. Breaking her telepathic link, Emma stared at them quietly for a moment. She had analyzed the images using her retro cognition and had already formulated what had happened. Yet, she was in a predicament as to what to do. Should she tell them and risk Adam's insults of being weak, or bury it, like she had done so with many things in her life, just to protect herself. Shaking her head slightly, she decided on the second choice, determined to complete her earlier solution no matter what.
"Emma," Adam started to say to her. But it was too late for them. Emma would not take the chance of them finding out about her past.
"I'm sorry, guys," Emma whispered, gathering energy and activating a part of her that she rarely used. Around her head, a white nimbus glowed momentarily before the light radiated towards Jesse and Adam, touching every corner of Sanctuary in moments.
Adam and Jesse fell to the floor, grabbing their heads and screaming out in pain. Emma slid her legs slowly off the edge of the sofa and glided over to them. Touching Jesse's face first, she held it between her dirty, bloody hands, a weak light passing from her. Jesse stopped yelling, and stood up calmly, towering over Emma as she crouched, intent on doing the same thing to Adam. Standing back up, Emma's eyes glowed white, as she stared past each of their eyes, telepathically altering their minds and memories. Jesse and Adam both smiled, and turned different ways, heading to where Emma had told them to go.
Gliding over to the computer chair, Emma sat down and placed her hand in front of the screen. The images on the playback flashed by quickly, jumping out of the screen and into Emma's hand. When the images stopped flowing, she brought her hand back, the screen going black as the computer turned off. Gliding back to the sofa, Emma lay down, grabbing the blankets from the nearby table and pulling them up to her chin, her energy worn out. Closing her eyes, she slept peacefully, once more.
TBC.
A/N: I hope you liked it. If you did, please review and give me your comments or suggestions. I promise you that the next chapter will be very interesting and will be updated sooner depending on the number of reviews that I get. Seeing that it was my birthday this last week, reviews would be a great present (hint, hint). (
