Chapter 168 – Affliction

[2009 – October]

"Where am I?", Celeste inquired, wanting to know where Emma had brought her after saving her from the Facility.

Even though she and her sisters had practically been cut off from the outside world, they had still been educated while imprisoned, so she had knowledge about the world.

The scientists that had been in charge of the experiments that involved her sisters and her had understood that it was necessary to teach and educate them, to prevent a maldevelopment of their cognitive functions.

"This is the medical ward of the Massachusetts Academy, a special boarding school that is owned by our family and that I am in charge of.", her mother replied calmly, her hand still holding onto her own.

'Owning a school … ', Celeste thought, having trouble understanding what this entailed, even though she had obviously realized that Emma's- ... her own family was not simple.

The fact that Emma's genetic material had been chosen as the foundation for a mutant-killing weapon by the Facility was clue enough to showcase how extraordinary her mother's powers were. And yet, judging by her mother's words, her uncle was seemingly even more extraordinary.

'If his strength alone could ensure that no one in the world would be able to harm me … ', Celeste had trouble imagining how powerful her uncle was but it was easy for her to pick up on the immense affection and respect that Emma had for her younger brother, her tone and expression saying it all.

"C-can you tell me about your- … my family, about yourself?", Celeste asked tentatively as she looked at her mother, feeling the warmth of Emma's palm slowly seeping into her smaller hand.

Celeste felt inexplicably close to Emma, her psychic powers having no problems sensing the latent connection between their minds. It was the same link that had allowed her to call for help, though something seemed to obstruct her telepathic abilities from connecting with her mother's mind at the moment.

Still, even though there was this sense of connection, Celeste didn't really know anything about Emma but she was curious and longed to change this.

This wasn't a wish born solely out of her own desire but something that was also influenced by the memory of her sisters and the promise that she had given Mindee. Her sister had always been the one that had yearned the most to get to know their mother, and it was her last wish for the others to do exactly that if given the chance.

Celeste had every intention to honor the promises that she had made to her sisters as they hadn't just been quintuplets, their minds had also been deeply connected, forming something akin to a hive mind.

She didn't know if this was the result of the experiments or not, but what she did know was that her sisters had left behind their power for her, and Celeste had no intention of wasting what she considered their blessing.

Emma though seemed to hesitate for a bit at this question before she lightly shook her head and started to tell her about the Frost family.

"There are only four members of the Frost family left, five counting you in.", her mother stated slowly as looked at her with untold secrets hidden in the depths of her crystal gaze, "There is Christian, my older brother, my younger sister Cordelia, and Elijah."

"Christian and Cordelia move around a lot as they are in charge of a clothing company under Frost Enterprises, Black Snow. Cordelia … "

Listening to her mother's melodious voice as she told her about her family, her hand still holding her own, Celeste felt an unknown warmth and comfort rising from the depths of her heart, Emma's presence gifting her with a sense of security that enabled her to just let go and rest, her eyes slowly closing themselves as she fell into a deep sleep.

…

Seeing Celeste fall asleep, Emma let out a shuddering breath, brushing away the moisture that had gathered in the corners of her eyes.

The young girl seemed so fragile and innocent, strands of flaxen blond hair framing her delicate features as her chest rose and fell in an even rhythm, the mere thought of something hurting her almost too much for Emma's heart to endure.

And knowing that Celeste was just the only girl that she had managed to save in time ... It nearly broke her.

Some part of her understood that it wasn't her fault, that she wasn't responsible for what had happened to her daughters as she hadn't even known about their existence but that did hardly anything to lessen the guilt and self-loathing that she felt.

Still, Emma was rational enough to understand that the only thing that she could do at this point was to take care of Celeste to the best of her abilities, even though she didn't really know how to be a mother.

She was also immensely grateful for Elijah's barrier that had protected her mind from Celeste as she had sensed the connection between herself and the girl, and she had felt her own inability to block her out.

Emma didn't want Celeste to know about her past, didn't want her to see what she had been through. She wanted to be strong for her daughter, not irrevocably broken and damaged.

Hearing the sliding doors open behind her with a soft 'swoosh', Emma turned around a bit from her seat at Celeste's bedside and saw a tall dark-haired teen enter the room while holding hands with a gorgeous redheaded teen, a tiny black owlet sitting on her younger brother's shoulders.

"Hu hu hu!", Arya was the first to say something as she hooted in greeting, her tone happy and affectionate as her amber eyes caught sight of her.

Emma herself couldn't help but smile softly at the tiny featherling's exuberance, Arya's presence something that she always welcomed.

"How is she?", Elijah asked with a calm smile, his deep green eyes holding untold truths and mysteries even when they shone with care and affection.

It wasn't as if her brother's eyes had changed though, it was just that Emma took special notice of the look in them after she had witnessed her brother effortlessly turning the world upside down with her own eyes.

She hadn't understood the true extent of Elijah's power before, being unable to comprehend the strength that he held in his hands as a being that ruled over another dimension.

Now, Emma couldn't help but find herself wondering what it was like to look at the world through his eyes.

Other thoughts and questions also rose in her heart as she remembered that Elijah had seen parts of the future. Had he known about Celeste? Had he known about the Facility's experiments?

It was unavoidable that small doubts rose in her heart, her anger and helplessness at what had happened searching for an outlet, someone to blame besides herself.

Still, Emma knew that most of the things that Elijah saw were incoherent and that he often had trouble understanding what was realityamongst them, and what was not.

So even if he had caught a few glimpses of what the Facility had been doing, it was highly likely that he might not have understood the connection between herself and those experiments. Not to mention that he might have also not seen anything about that at all.

As such Emma didn't let those thoughts take root in her heart as she didn't want to start resenting her younger brother for something that might not have anything to do with, or was simply outside of his control, just because her own demons were whispering lies and speculation into her ears.

"Resting.", Emma replied lightly, pushing aside those other thoughts as she rose to her feet and walked to the high-tech scanning device at the side, "Though the scans will hopefully tell us that she is only a bit underweight as well as help me understand why her mental waves are active on so many different frequencies."

For a strong telepathic and psychic such as herself, the mental waves of those around her were all of different frequencies. She could feel this as clearly as she could feel cold and warmth.

Celeste's though were 'multi-layered', for lack of a better word.

It was as if her mind worked at different wavelengths all the time without being erratic or unstable, which was something that Emma had never seen before.

She could see Jean frown lightly with a look of concentration on her face as she heard the last part of her reply to Elijah's question, the young mutant clearly sensing the unusual mental activity of her daughter.

Arriving before the scanning device, Emma tapped on the display and viewed the different test results, though just as she was about to skip to the analysis of the electroencephalography and the wavelength examination of the spectroscope, a single line written in bright red caught her eyes.

'Ongoing unnatural degeneration of the structural integrity of genetic material found. Cause unclear. No treatment method found. Progression of stated affliction will most likely be fatal.'

As if someone had pierced a spear of ice through her ribcage, Emma's chest started to constrict as she stopped breathing for a moment, her heart skipping a beat while her mind tried its hardest to comprehend what it was that she had just read.

"No … Th-This can't be … ", she uttered softly, unwilling to accept that her daughter was still dying even though they had already saved her.