Chapter 13

By AliasJaneDoe

"I'm really killing him, aren't I?" Brennan asked.

Emma squeezed his hand, then tried to slip the oxygen mask back onto his face. "It's not your fault."

He pushed it weakly aside once more, needing to talk. "You can't let him die." He took several shaky breaths. "If he dies, you'll never forgive me."

Her brow furrowed in confusion, but she tried to shush him. "You need to rest, Bren. Save your strength."

"Why are you letting me lie to you?" He clung to her hand as he said it.

She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do. I've done something terrible and you know it." He paused to catch his breath again. "I was willing to take his world... but I can't take his life, Emma..." A tear streaked his face.

"I'll get you something more for the pain," she offered quickly.

"Don't." He wouldn't let go of her hand. "Don't avoid this conversation. And don't keep helping me fight him. And don't... don't tell yourself that you'd have known if I was lying."

"I would have! And you weren't. You couldn't have been." She gasped for air, suddenly feeling like he wasn't the one who couldn't breathe. She was the one struggling. He wasn't her Brennan. Oh god...

"Emma, please, I am so sorry."

She jerked her hand away from his, the charms on her bracelet rattling against each other. "Bastard..." It came out barely a whisper, but she knew he still heard it.

"I needed you." His tone was desperate. "I thought you could forgive me that."

"You had no right to..." She wiped at her face. She would not cry.

"To what, Emma? I can't need you if you aren't mine? I don't have a right to that? He's been living fine for four months without you. It won't rip his heart out if you chose me over him!"

"It's not about choice, Brennan! You can't choose your world, it doesn't work like that!" She stared at him, not sure if she was more upset or shocked.

"I don't know my world," he said quietly. "That's why I could claim both versions of how we met as being truth, because I don't know which is the lie. I don't remember how exactly we joined Mutant X. I'm not even sure you didn't die with Tyler."

Her anger fell away, leaving an empty sadness. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It felt right, didn't it? You and me? At least until him... It felt real..."

Before she could answer, he passed out again. Emma put her face in her hands, still refusing to cry. It had felt right.

A moment later, the monitor behind Brennan signaled an alert. Emma instantly stood up and then bent over him. He wasn't breathing. "Brennan?" She pushed the mask back onto his face. It didn't help.

"No," she pleaded. "No, Brennan, I forgive you. You have to let me choose. I want to able to choose."

Jesse was pushing her back a second later and checking Brennan for a pulse. "Shal, Lex," he shouted over his shoulder, "get the other one to Naxcon and find that doorway. Now!"

"Emma needs to show us where it is," Lexa replied smoothly.

"Go," Shalimar said to Emma. "I'll stay with this Brennan. He'll be fine."

Emma started to protest but was grabbed and dragged away by Lexa.

-----

Screeching to a stop in the Naxcon lot, Lexa shifted into park. She yanked the keys from the ignition and shoved them in a pocket. She turned to Emma. "Come on, let's get Sparky up so he can do his thing."

She opened the backdoor and practically dragged the half-conscious elemental out, pulling his arm over her shoulder. Emma quickly had his other arm draped over her own shoulder as well.

As they awkwardly approached the building with Brennan between them, Emma tripped over some debris. Lexa noticed her share of Brennan's weight get heavier.

"I think I twisted my ankle," Emma complained, hissing in pain. "Get Brennan inside. I'm right behind you."

Lexa mumbled something nasty, then proceeded to yank a stumbling Brennan into to remains of the building. Once inside, she let go of his arm and he swiftly collapsed to the floor. Groaning, Lexa stooped down and slapped him across the face. "Hey, try to spark up. I'm gonna go get DeLauro."

He nodded weakly, starting to wind his hands around each other and attempting a charge.

"Yo, Emma," Lexa called, making her way back outside. She really should have insisted they bring Adam too in order to save him also, she thought. She could have been rid of both him and Emma if this worked. She stopped and looked around. Where the hell was Emma? She quickly spun in a full circle. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me..."

Crap.

-----

Jesse slammed his fist against the keyboard in frustration. He didn't even know what he was looking for. The only mutant in the database listed with the power to heal was also listed as "location unknown."

He didn't have contact information for his father either, and Jesse wouldn't use it even if he did. How pathetic would it be for him to call up his parents and ask to move back home? Oh, and maybe he could pretty please have his trust fund back also.

He stared at the information on the screen again, not sure why he'd pulled that file up. Toni was currently a six-hour drive away. Had he really exhausted all other options that he was actually considering going to his ex-girlfriend?

He wondered how that conversation would go. "I know we didn't end on the best terms - actually we didn't end at all, but you didn't exactly call me either, so I'm not the only one at fault for that - oh, but no worries, I'm not here to start a relationship again, because quite frankly you annoy me in a pesky Ashlee Simpson kind of way, but seeing as I'm in a wheelchair now, I figured you'd pity me enough to give me a place to stay. You know, just until I'm back on my feet."

Jesse dropped his head against the keyboard, and the computer beeped some kind of error. A bitter, choked laugh broke free and Jesse swallowed it before it could become sobbing. He truly had no friends and nowhere to go.

-----

Waking up on the ground, Brennan stared up at Lexa. She stared back. "We seem to have switched worlds," she stated, none too thrilled.

"How long was I out?" Brennan asked, not overly troubled by that fact.

"No more than a minute or so," she replied, leaning over him. "Feeling better?"

"Much," he answered before throwing a fast punch to her face and knocking her out cold. He didn't know how his double had tolerated her for four months before he'd shown up and traded places with him.

Getting up and dusting himself off, Brennan retrieved the car keys from her and then picked his way out of the ruins of yet another Naxcon building. He might as well do some scouting around before attempting the return trip. And he needed to figure out how to dispose of his damn double when he did go back, if he were still alive.

He tapped his ring to open the com-link but said nothing. He closed and opened the connection twice more, causing small clicks on the channel.

If his Shal were here, she'd respond. Three clicks answered his.

"Brennan?" a voice asked over the com.

Definitely not Shalimar. Brennan frowned. Kilmartin. And he hadn't been briefed on this one. "Yeah," he replied cautiously, wondering if Shal's ring had shown up also or if Kilmartin had no reason to be monitoring her com.

"Where are you?" The voice sounded agitated.

Brennan shrugged. "Where are you?" he responded casually.

"Sanctuary. Where else would I be?" the person on the other end of the line shot back at him.

"Stay there. I'll come to you."

He strolled over to where the car was parked, although it wasn't the same car and must have been left behind by a double. He tried his keys and wasn't at all surprised to discover they worked. He grinned.

-----

"Where are Emma and Adam?" Jesse asked as Brennan entered, looking up from his task of tinkering with the broken keyboard.

"Emma and Adam. Right." Well, that explained which brave new world he'd found himself on, and infiltration wasn't an option without far too much acting. "They aren't here."

Jesse squinted at him, knowing something wasn't right. "Wait a minute... You can see me?"

"Yes," Brennan replied with a nonchalant shrug. Then he lifted his hand. It was just easier than making up a new backstory.

Before Jesse had a chance to react, the electric shock hit him and sent his world into blackness.

-----

Brennan swiped his keycard through the scanner at Genomex, identifying himself an agent. The tiny light remained red.

It was only a moment before he was greeted by a security team. The blonde in charge eyed him up and down. "Using an invalid card... naughty boy."

A smile crossed his face. She'd clearly been expecting him. "Miss me?"

"You've no idea how much," Shalimar replied. "This is the second parallel hunk of rock I've been to. I'd rather like to go home."

"Adam and Mason have worried terribly about you, of course." Brennan tossed his car keys to some random agent. "Kilmartin is locked in the trunk. I have full access to Sanctuary."

"Splendid." Shalimar grinned at him. "This Mason will want to meet you."

"First things first." His headache was coming back. "Where's my counterpart?"

"He's got a room right next to our precious Emma's."

"So you found her." His smile broadened. "Good."

-----

Emma flinched away as Brennan stroked her cheek. "Don't pull away from me," he ordered softly. "You know we only chased you because we love you, don't you, Emma?"

She cringed, trembling beneath his touch.

He wrapped his fingers behind her neck, pulling her forward and feeling the governor. "You shouldn't have tried to run away. You need Mason and Adam to help you control your powers. Because you can't control them, can you?" He petted her hair. "You need to be put in the pod so you don't hurt any more people."

She remained silent, and he titled her face up. She quickly looked away.

"You know that you're sick, don't you?" His voice stayed sweet. "You're lucky we even want to help make you better. Because you're not worth it, are you?"

He kissed her forehead. "You're lucky we can love somebody like you," he repeated gently before leaving.

-----

Jesse lay on the floor and silently watched the scene through the bars of his cell. Then he watched as the lifeless body was removed from the cell one farther down the row.

-----