Spoilers for Fool for Love, Shock of the New (hopefully they are recognisable as such) and Pain (in the sense that if you intend to read it and haven't yet, you should read it before this chapter.) Thanks for the reviews.

Part IV

Jesse felt a sickening lurch, like a roller coaster dropping from the very peak of a climb. The world blurred around him as he fell backwards. He was caught at the last minute by some kind of pillar at his back. Realising that the world had become more or less stationary again, Jesse looked around and found himself in an all-to-familiar setting.

Emma was stood across from him, leaning against the stairs of the dojo. Brennan sat just above her on the stairs themselves. Both looked down at the floor as if it held some great intrigue for them. He closed his eyes for a moment, not wanting to see the scene behind him. He knew exactly what he would see; the image had stuck with him long after this day. Even after Shalimar had gathered her pieces and come bouncing back to them with a smile which, though forced at first, had slowly worked its way up to its previous brilliance.

Breathing in deeply, he opened his eyes again and turned, leaning around the dojo's support pillar. It was just as he remembered it, Shalimar lying beside the still water of the meditation pool, Adam at her side trying to offer some quiet platitude. Her heart had almost visibly broken that day, when Richard had died with his hand in hers. And he had been haunted for weeks after by the fear that it might have been his fault. He had wished Richard dead with such anger when he had found that the stranger might be taking Shalimar away from them, from him. And his relief, even during Shalimar's pain, that she would be staying with him had dragged him even further down.

There was a flicker to one side of him as Sharon stepped out of thin air. He began to form a question, but his head felt heavy as if her were being dragged down. He saw her - distantly as if looking to the other end of a tunnel - cry out 'NO' and reach out to catch him, but before she could reach him he fell again, the support of the pillar disappearing from behind him. He seemed to fall for a long time, but when he landed it was quietly and gently.

He landed in a quiet alleyway, no sign of Sharon around him. He turned and found a frozen tableau playing out before him. Emma turned to him, a silent question, a request for assurance in her eyes. Smiling he nodded, yes, we're here to help you, trust us. Adam and Shalimar stood nearby, waiting for her decision. Adam had said his piece, done all he could, Shalimar was still stood tense, wary of other attackers. Would she join them? Would she run? She had turned to him for advice, trusted him with the decision. What had she seen in him that he could not, to trust him so implicitly? Had he failed her? He couldn't drag his eyes away from that frightened face.

He was inside now, Sanctuary. Shalimar was there, again frozen in place like some kind of photograph. But it was an old memory, she was younger, a little more wild. Her posture showed distrust - he hadn't seen it and wouldn't have recognised it when he was younger, when he was here the first time, but now he could read the feral's body language as clearly as if they had spoken. Neither of them had trusted the other in the beginning. He was an intruder in her territory and she was determined to make him leave. He was so defensive neither of them could talk to each other. But somehow, without either of them really noticing it, they became stronger than any brother or sister. She protective of him - she was the only one who could bully him - he worrying for her when she threw herself into unknown dangers, watching out for the things she might not have seen.

And he was sitting in the back of a hall, on wooden chairs. Sharon was sat beside him and he couldn't help but jump at her presence.

"I thought you'd end up here eventually." She said, seemingly unperturbed by his appearance.

"How did..." He seemed finally to take in their surroundings and noted that this image had noise and motion, unlike the others. "Oh, no."

"I'm sorry, but at least once this is over you can go back."

"What do you mean 'once this is over', get me out of here now!"

"I can't do that."

"Why the hell not? I can't go through this again."

"I can't stop it, not until it's finished. If I pull you out now this memory will stay high in your consciousness. You'll dream about it, you'll have flashbacks, it will drive you mad. It's bad enough when the memory is a good one. This might kill you." His eyes widened and he nodded.

"I guess it will teach me for touching things I shouldn't." He joked quietly, watching as people began to flood around them into the hall.

ProxyBlue - though few would recognise the quiet red-head and her camera-man as the acidic sym. - took a seat near to them. All of the other reporters, come to see the two notorious mutants 'apprehended at last' by the authorities, were stood outside the large room, frozen where they stood and would wake once it was over. They would not see the new mutants - the only observers besides ProxyBlue - entering or leaving the room, nor would they see the three remaining members of Mutant X leave with tears in their eyes to take their friends home for the last time.

Jesse had tears in his eyes before the two were lead in. He winced again, though he had seen it before, as Emma stumbled and was yanked upright by the guard pulling her along. Shalimar looked tired, he noted, as though she'd spent more than one long night awake. A bruise marred her forehead imperfectly hidden by her hair. Emma's cheeks showed the signs of tears, but her eyes were dry now and her jaw set.

He had to look away then. Unable to relive that last moment. When Sharon touched his shoulder and the room faded around him he looked up. He was back in the room full of memories, still swirling around him. Eber was there, waiting and frowning.

"Are you OK? I couldn't get in." She said as soon as they were fully there.

"Yes, we're coming back now." Sharon reassured her, smiling at Jesse as he wiped at his eyes and nodded. He let out a breath as the room dissolved around them, leaving him stood in the medical lab, releasing Sharon's hand.

"Are you OK?" Adam asked as he shook his head, trying to clear the fuzziness that remained. "You were in there for a long time."

"He touched a panel and started jumping. I couldn't control where he went so I had to wait for him. It could have been a lot longer if he'd decided to take another route." Sharon said, offering Jesse a small smile.

"Jumping?" Adam asked.

"Going from one memory to another. Not everyone does it, some people will look at one memory - the one they touched - and stop there. Others can be impossible to stop. With Eber's help it is easier to pull people out of memories. She... unbalances things. It pulls us back towards the centre." She explained.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Jesse asked.

"I think you can be trusted." Sharon nodded, smiling.

"Oh good."

AN: Soz, this is an odd place to leave it, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the next chapter so we'll see.

I have a message for Sky One, on behalf of UK viewers. UP YOURS! We have been left without MX for the second time this season (replaced by KIRSTY!!!) and you don't seem to be giving it back this time! So, there you go. The reason for anything I might have overlooked from the show.