Chapter 9
By frickangel
It
was a funny game of
"when-I-stare-at-you-you-can-stare-back-or-pretend-you're-looking-away"
that was being played between the five of them.
"So
let me get this straight..." the almighty brunette stood up,
paraded back and forth the hall, hands on the hips and with one
sarcastic smile etched on her face. "You're Emma, the god knows
how many-eth Emma in this infinite number of worlds and so is
Brennan?"
"Just
like us, Lexa."
"You
know Jesse, you are not helping." She snapped back and plopped
herself into one of the couches.
Shrugging,
yet quietly satisfied with his own self for having to make Lexa sound
bad, Jesse fingered the crystal chess pieces of the board.
Across
him, Brennan sat next to Emma, the friend whom he thought they had
lost, was sitting there and looking weary. He could see her holding
on tightly to Brennan's arm, for what, he didn't know. Maybe she
felt she needed to protect him, or maybe it was the other way around.
"I
hated science for a reason." Shalimar muttered, she shifted her
position just to get more comfortable on the couch's arm rest, she
gave a small glance at Jesse and looked up once more. "Scientists
could never accept the fact that a sky is blue, they just had to go
explain the reason it was blue."
Damn,
just when did she become so philosophical? "What?" Jesse eyed the
feral and arched both eyebrows.
"Nothing,
Jess." She patted his shoulder and balanced herself again, avoiding
crashing on him.
"We
don't know much either, we were just trying to get home." Emma
tried explaining. "We need to get to Adam."
"Where
is he?" Lexa asked, actually, ask was an understatement, it was
more of an order.
"He
mentioned something about a safe house." Brennan offered his help,
patting Emma's hand gently, but never breaking his straight ahead
gaze. "Just I'm not too sure which."
"Well
if he is there, he would've known we were on another reality, the
things wouldn't be the same in the safe house." Emma theorised
and pondered. Her petite frame seemed to shrink further under a whole
load of thought. "Then again, wouldn't that mean he would've
return to Sanctuary by now?"
"You
know what Emm?" Shalimar swung her leg over the arm rest and
planted her two feet on the floor. "Maybe you and Bren better get
some rest."
"Whoa..."
Lexa interrupted and bolted up. "We need to find Adam."
Shalimar
was already mid way helping Emma with Brennan. "Screw Adam. If that
bastard can lie to Emma and leave the others behind for his own
selfishness, I don't think I want to waste my time looking for his
sorry ass existence."
"Shal,
he's the only one who can help in this." Trying to slow her down,
Brennan tried putting a bit of resistance in his step, it worked on
Emma, she stopped. But never try that on a feral, she'll just push,
or pull, harder.
"As
far as I'm concern, you are home, both you and Emma." She paused,
smiling at Emma. "Now shut up before I carry you to your bedroom."
"Shalimar!"
Lexa protested once again.
"Lex,
shut up before I do something to you to." Jesse threatened,
stepping in between her and the three other mutants. "And believe
me, I won't be as nice as Shalimar and carry you."
Narrowing
her eyes, Lexa tried awarding her best glare at Jesse.
He
stood his ground and smiled back. Just a simple smile-- nothing
fancy.
"Fine."
She grumbled and stormed off in the opposite directions, her hands
thrown up in frustration. Jesse was part expecting her to at least
punch him. Guess she wasn't in the mood.
Turning
behind, Jesse shrugged and sighed, "She'll be fine, probably just
PMS."
"Come
on; let's get you two to your rooms." Shalimar changed the
subject and softly tugged at Brennan's shirt.
Instead
of silent obedience, Brennan seemed to have decided he was going to
be a rebel, exactly there and then.
"I
can handle myself!" He shrugged off Emma and Shalimar before
stumbling off into the rough direction of his room, hands
outstretched trying to manoeuvre his way.
Emma's
hand flew up and caught Shalimar just as she was about to lash at
Brennan. Her eyes spoke of softness and understanding. Let him be...
she silently and wordlessly told.
Seeing
him grasping the world unsurely and searching for his way, Jesse
ached within. Just yesterday there was a Brennan he knew, the brother
he played basketball with and teased endlessly.
The
one he loved to hate sometimes.
Emma's
back and it seemed, well at least to him, that Brennan was paying for
it. Life just isn't fair.
"I'll
follow him." Jesse volunteered and left the two women behind.
After
all, he couldn't abandon family like that, before moving after
Brennan, Jesse reversed a little, lifted one of the chess pawns and
dropped it on a black square.
Checkmate
------
"Here
you go," Shalimar pushed back the door and revealed Emma's clean
room, untouched and unchanged.
"My
god, it's still the same." She breathlessly said. With a fragile
sense of reality, the Psionic ran her fingers lightly over every
photo frame, every ornament—every memory.
"Well,
I couldn't stand packing up; I rather brave doing the cleaning once
in a while than to do that." She smiled and leaned against the
doorway, it's been a while since the room felt this warm and
useful. Most of the time Shalimar felt it was a morbid tomb of
memories which she couldn't bare to touch.
"Is
it just me or do I find it just strange?"
You
mean besides seeing a dead friend? "Why?" Shalimar asked
instead.
"We're
two people who were in the past four months, dead to each other."
'Yes,"
she grinned, "There is that one thing..."
Falling
on the bed, Emma ran her hands over the soft sheets and took in a
deep breath and let it out. Stepping over to the bedside, the blonde
sat herself next to Emma and leaned her head on her shoulder.
"Shal?"
Emma whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Am
I really home?"
"I
don't know," she looked at her dear friend, her tears flowing
down. "Do you feel at home?"
With
distant looks in her eyes, Emma nodded.
"Then,"
Shalimar was finally crying as well, months of anger and sadness
built under just hours of joy, crashed through the thick walls that
held her emotions behind. "You're home. You belong here."
The
two friends hugged. Together they had found the precious thing they
had lost.
------
Laughter
that escaped from the room felt odd, it's been a while since giggly
laughter was heard here. Peeping through the doors, Lexa spied on
Shalimar and Emma, both searching through a thick book-- a photo
album.
With
each page turned, the girls broke out giggling and reminding each
other of some silly trivial matter. Trivialness was something that
Lexa will never understand.
She
knocked, they looked up but she wasn't about to wait for them to
give permission. So hey, just push the door, open and enter.
"Lexa?"
Shalimar frowned as she saw the other woman walk through the
entrance.
She
fidgeted a little and forced herself to say it, "I made you guys
coffee, Jesse and Brennan's got some already- here." She held out
her hands, both holding on to two porcelain mugs of steaming coffee.
Confused,
they took a little too long in deciding Lexa's intentions. Only
there weren't any intentions, she just made coffee, big deal.
Shalimar
half got up to take the mugs, handed one to Emma before accepting the
other. "Thanks,"
"Just
don't make this a habit."
"So
what are you looking at?" The words escaped before she realised she
just showed interest in what they were doing.
That
wasn't what she had in mind.
"Nothing,"
Emma answered before Shalimar could, "Just some old pictures,"
"Right,"
she chewed on her lip and tried thinking of the right words. There
weren't any. "I'll go now."
"Wait."
Turning
back, Lexa figured it was time, Emma was about to unleash her anger
at the molecular for "taking her place". Let's get it done
and over with. "Yes?"
"You
could stay," she smiled, nothing false or sarcastic, just a plain
invitation.
"I..."
she shook her head, happy for a small change in things, but not
obvious. This deLauro was one smart girl after all. "Thanks, maybe
some other time." She declined and stepped out, feeling a little
better, but the fact is, her mission still hung heavily on her. It
still doesn't change much.
------
Where
were there?
Left
alone, in this world of emptiness, no one left but his own self.
Jesse
Kilmartin, a fallen shadow of what he used to be. Now here he was,
sitting in his wheelchair, lost the middle of an empty world,
everyone's gone.
No
one came back.
Adam
lied.
Again.
He
should've known by now, never to trust anyone, even if it took 28
years to trust somebody. That was a stupid line.
Well,
now he learnt his lesson. But what's the use?
There's
no one left.
Pushing
his wheelchair down the empty hall, Jesse felt the silence cut
through him, deafening him and forced him to hallucinate.
He
began to hear voices, the voices that kept calling his name.
It's
a dream, no one's there... it's not real. Stop dreaming Jesse,
they left you.
Face
it.
------
