DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from 'Mutant X'. They're not
my property. They belong to Tribune Entertainment.
***
*********
He was holding her hand between his. If felt cold now; the physical warmth had abandoned her skin. Naively, he rubbed her hand, hoping to revive it like in some cheesy old movie where everything turns out to be well at end and she would wake up as if from a dream. Remaining there, the coldness did not discourage Jesse to release her hand. He held onto it as if his life was somehow dependent on that one part of her body.
When he saw Adam's body in the desert, everything around him had collapsed around with only two, weak, trembling pieces that barely stood alone. He did not think anything could be worse than that; he did not believe or even wanted to try and believe that something worse could happen, something that would shove its hand callously inside his chest, burning his skin and poisoning his blood; it would reach his heart, grab it and crush it to pieces, leaving Jesse with the painful struggle to retrieve the feeling of air and remain conscious. His tears would burn inside him until, without any control, he would release them... those few spare tears which he thought never existed after his mentor's death.
Two hours before, he had stormed into the living room to find Brennan and Emma. Jesse was angry at Emma for her sluggish attempt to bring back Shalimar, even though he could not escape the reality that it hadn't been the Psionic's fault; he was even more furious at Brennan for abandoning Shalimar when she could have used his help greatly. That anger found a way to escape through violence as Jesse attacked the Elemental. "It's all your fault!" he'd shouted at him. "If you were here she would be alive! You bastard!"
But before the first fist could come in contact with the skin, both mutants felt a heavy stone suddenly emerge in their heads, forcing them to touch the ground in aching. "This is not the time!" he heard Emma shout as the pain was slowly subduing. Jesse could see the pale color of aching brushed against her blue eyes, draining even further, the poorly rich color they used to have.
But how could anyone feel worse than him? How could Emma or Brennan feel the slow and tedious decay of the walls around his crushed heart and the even slower infection of the outer walls of his soul, those stronger ones? He must've been unique in this. The dying pieces of his heart, though with weak breath, continued to foolishly whisper to him that all was not yet lost... that she would return; that she could still be alive. But those whispers only burned, causing more aching to him, deepening the anger and frustration.
He kept holding on to her, looking at her like a sad puppy laying at his owner's side, wishing desperately for some miracle to appear. But what kind of a miracle would fulfill his wish? None. It was empty. Everything was so empty.
The grief, the poor exhibition of strength - everything was draining the weakening energy from him. He felt tired. He did not wish to fall asleep; he felt that to be disrespectful towards Shalimar, his thin connection to the endangered soul. However, his body failed to obey him and even bigger was the refusal that emerged from his stone-heavy eyelids. He could not fight it any longer; he had to give into it. Quickly his eyes closed with the eerily peaceful image of his friend as the last memory of the awoken state.
*********
She was helpless and angry at herself. Her powers did not work; everything about her dropped into temporarily stillness. Her anger was not directed only at herself, it was not selfish; it found a way to spear itself towards Shalimar. "Why didn't you let me help you..." she whispered faintly to herself. "You had to be so stubborn. Why do you always have to be so stubborn?" Emma nearly raised her inner voice to a more violent level when she realized that it only fueled her irritation and growing tiredness.
Her eyes looked ahead. Everything appeared so dark; the entire room had been swallowed by the thick, sharp jaws of darkness. Perhaps there would have been at least a tiny spark of light, had it not been for Brennan's earlier rage. Her eyes were blind but her mind could see everything as clear as a sunny day. She could see Brennan sitting against the wall without a glance to the outside world; she could see Jesse sleeping next to Shalimar, clenching onto her even in his dreams; all of this brought silence, a deafening and at the same time annoyingly loud silence.
What would this do to her? She had defended the attacks of the constant amount of emotions flowing into her after Adam's death and now another blow, another assault would follow behind with only one difference... the grievance of a third person would be absent.
The sadistic hollowness of the night and the bottomless emptiness fighting to emerge from the deep, broad ocean of her friends' emotions forbid her to stare into the stars of the future. Would she fight this? Unlikely. She did not wish to fight it, for she knew there could be no victory... at least not for her. Emma could only remain in her place and swim in the polluted waters of the cruel reality. That was all she could do....
*********
The dark green eyes watched patiently in front of them. "Blood pressure?"
"Stable," the man in a white uniform replied.
"Her resistance level?"
The man paused.
"Well?" she turned sharply towards him.
"It's rising."
The woman returned her gaze in front of her. She sighed with disagreement. "We'll have to place her in another chamber."
The man turned to her. "Is it wise to separate her from the others?"
"We have no choice. Do it," the woman ordered and after receiving a nod of confirmation she slowly walked out of the small observation area.
With slow steps Felicia made her way through the wide corridor made of nothing else but thick, silver steel from the first small square of the floor to the last one of the ceiling. On each side, thin, cylinder-shaped pillars were the only 'decorations' that separated the lighter ceiling from the darker floor.
A man in a gray uniform stood next to a door with a bulletproof plastic window on its upper side. Stopping in front of the door, Felicia placed her hand on the door's square handle. Pushing it lightly, she opened the door and walked inside the small room which resembled a cell with the only difference being the bright red walls, the dozens of books next to the table and the surprisingly comfortable cotton sheets and pillow on the bed.
Standing in front of the man that sat on the bed, Felicia crossed her arms. "We're relocating her, Adam," she told him.
"Relocating her?" he jumped from the bed with a disturbed look flashing from his eyes. "You can't."
"She's endangering the process."
"She's not even awake yet."
"No, but her resistance levels are rising."
His voice remained absent for a while. "What about the others?"
"They'll stay where they are now."
"So, you're going to separate her from them?" there wasn't much approval in his tone.
"Yes."
"It'll hurt her if you do."
"It'll kill her if I don't."
"You can not relocate her."
"The entire experiment will fail if she wakes up too soon. And if the experiment fails, Adam..." she paused, taking a step closer to him. "You know the consequences of that, don't you," she raised a knowing eyebrow at him with a threatening grin as an accomplice.
Looking at her with a falling level of alertness, Adam sighed in defeat and nodded in response. "Unfortunately..."
"Good," Felicia said with an invisible emotion of satisfaction.
***
*********
He was holding her hand between his. If felt cold now; the physical warmth had abandoned her skin. Naively, he rubbed her hand, hoping to revive it like in some cheesy old movie where everything turns out to be well at end and she would wake up as if from a dream. Remaining there, the coldness did not discourage Jesse to release her hand. He held onto it as if his life was somehow dependent on that one part of her body.
When he saw Adam's body in the desert, everything around him had collapsed around with only two, weak, trembling pieces that barely stood alone. He did not think anything could be worse than that; he did not believe or even wanted to try and believe that something worse could happen, something that would shove its hand callously inside his chest, burning his skin and poisoning his blood; it would reach his heart, grab it and crush it to pieces, leaving Jesse with the painful struggle to retrieve the feeling of air and remain conscious. His tears would burn inside him until, without any control, he would release them... those few spare tears which he thought never existed after his mentor's death.
Two hours before, he had stormed into the living room to find Brennan and Emma. Jesse was angry at Emma for her sluggish attempt to bring back Shalimar, even though he could not escape the reality that it hadn't been the Psionic's fault; he was even more furious at Brennan for abandoning Shalimar when she could have used his help greatly. That anger found a way to escape through violence as Jesse attacked the Elemental. "It's all your fault!" he'd shouted at him. "If you were here she would be alive! You bastard!"
But before the first fist could come in contact with the skin, both mutants felt a heavy stone suddenly emerge in their heads, forcing them to touch the ground in aching. "This is not the time!" he heard Emma shout as the pain was slowly subduing. Jesse could see the pale color of aching brushed against her blue eyes, draining even further, the poorly rich color they used to have.
But how could anyone feel worse than him? How could Emma or Brennan feel the slow and tedious decay of the walls around his crushed heart and the even slower infection of the outer walls of his soul, those stronger ones? He must've been unique in this. The dying pieces of his heart, though with weak breath, continued to foolishly whisper to him that all was not yet lost... that she would return; that she could still be alive. But those whispers only burned, causing more aching to him, deepening the anger and frustration.
He kept holding on to her, looking at her like a sad puppy laying at his owner's side, wishing desperately for some miracle to appear. But what kind of a miracle would fulfill his wish? None. It was empty. Everything was so empty.
The grief, the poor exhibition of strength - everything was draining the weakening energy from him. He felt tired. He did not wish to fall asleep; he felt that to be disrespectful towards Shalimar, his thin connection to the endangered soul. However, his body failed to obey him and even bigger was the refusal that emerged from his stone-heavy eyelids. He could not fight it any longer; he had to give into it. Quickly his eyes closed with the eerily peaceful image of his friend as the last memory of the awoken state.
*********
She was helpless and angry at herself. Her powers did not work; everything about her dropped into temporarily stillness. Her anger was not directed only at herself, it was not selfish; it found a way to spear itself towards Shalimar. "Why didn't you let me help you..." she whispered faintly to herself. "You had to be so stubborn. Why do you always have to be so stubborn?" Emma nearly raised her inner voice to a more violent level when she realized that it only fueled her irritation and growing tiredness.
Her eyes looked ahead. Everything appeared so dark; the entire room had been swallowed by the thick, sharp jaws of darkness. Perhaps there would have been at least a tiny spark of light, had it not been for Brennan's earlier rage. Her eyes were blind but her mind could see everything as clear as a sunny day. She could see Brennan sitting against the wall without a glance to the outside world; she could see Jesse sleeping next to Shalimar, clenching onto her even in his dreams; all of this brought silence, a deafening and at the same time annoyingly loud silence.
What would this do to her? She had defended the attacks of the constant amount of emotions flowing into her after Adam's death and now another blow, another assault would follow behind with only one difference... the grievance of a third person would be absent.
The sadistic hollowness of the night and the bottomless emptiness fighting to emerge from the deep, broad ocean of her friends' emotions forbid her to stare into the stars of the future. Would she fight this? Unlikely. She did not wish to fight it, for she knew there could be no victory... at least not for her. Emma could only remain in her place and swim in the polluted waters of the cruel reality. That was all she could do....
*********
The dark green eyes watched patiently in front of them. "Blood pressure?"
"Stable," the man in a white uniform replied.
"Her resistance level?"
The man paused.
"Well?" she turned sharply towards him.
"It's rising."
The woman returned her gaze in front of her. She sighed with disagreement. "We'll have to place her in another chamber."
The man turned to her. "Is it wise to separate her from the others?"
"We have no choice. Do it," the woman ordered and after receiving a nod of confirmation she slowly walked out of the small observation area.
With slow steps Felicia made her way through the wide corridor made of nothing else but thick, silver steel from the first small square of the floor to the last one of the ceiling. On each side, thin, cylinder-shaped pillars were the only 'decorations' that separated the lighter ceiling from the darker floor.
A man in a gray uniform stood next to a door with a bulletproof plastic window on its upper side. Stopping in front of the door, Felicia placed her hand on the door's square handle. Pushing it lightly, she opened the door and walked inside the small room which resembled a cell with the only difference being the bright red walls, the dozens of books next to the table and the surprisingly comfortable cotton sheets and pillow on the bed.
Standing in front of the man that sat on the bed, Felicia crossed her arms. "We're relocating her, Adam," she told him.
"Relocating her?" he jumped from the bed with a disturbed look flashing from his eyes. "You can't."
"She's endangering the process."
"She's not even awake yet."
"No, but her resistance levels are rising."
His voice remained absent for a while. "What about the others?"
"They'll stay where they are now."
"So, you're going to separate her from them?" there wasn't much approval in his tone.
"Yes."
"It'll hurt her if you do."
"It'll kill her if I don't."
"You can not relocate her."
"The entire experiment will fail if she wakes up too soon. And if the experiment fails, Adam..." she paused, taking a step closer to him. "You know the consequences of that, don't you," she raised a knowing eyebrow at him with a threatening grin as an accomplice.
Looking at her with a falling level of alertness, Adam sighed in defeat and nodded in response. "Unfortunately..."
"Good," Felicia said with an invisible emotion of satisfaction.