The girl was curled up at the far end of the lab, framed by tangled IV lines and flickering fluorescent panels above.
Her white gown hung like a ghost's robe, smudged with dried blood.
Soren stepped closer. His eyes softened the moment he saw her face clearly, beautiful, yes, but marred by the suffering carved into her skin.
Her delicate features were drawn tight with fear. Her lashes fluttered like torn feathers, framing eyes that didn't look at him.
His hand clenched slightly at the sight of her arms, riddled with pinholes, deep bruises, and fresh welts that hadn't yet scabbed over.
Some wounds still wept. Others had been cauterized crudely.
They treated her like a test subject. Like she wasn't human.
Soren crouched down, lowering himself to eye level. "Child… don't be afraid."
"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to take you away from all of this."
The girl flinched at his words, pressing herself further into the corner, her knees drawn tight to her chest.
Soren's expression softened even more. He didn't reach out yet. Just stayed still. "My name's Soren."
"Can you tell me yours?"
The girl looked up at him, hesitant, trembling, as if daring to believe. Her voice was paper-thin.
"Jenny." She whispered.
Soren nodded gently, like handling the name itself might scare her away.
"That's a beautiful name."
"Jenny… this place isn't safe. I need to take you somewhere better. Somewhere warm."
"Where no one can touch you again."
But Jenny's body tensed, the hope in her eyes fading into suspicion. Her fingers gripped the edge of her gown tightly. "No one ever says that and means it."
"They always say it first… before it hurts more."
She shrank back into the shadows, her body trembling, eyes wide as if expecting pain to follow the kindness.
Soren exhaled slowly, guilt churning in his chest like lead.
"I swear to you, Jenny." He said, steady as stone.
"I don't want anything from you. I'm not like them. I'll protect you, even if I have to carry you through the void myself."
His words seemed to land, barely. Jenny hesitated… then looked up, her face twisted in quiet confusion.
"You… you came in with magic. That door~" She pointed to the sealed vault entrance, which had never opened.
"But it won't work. My power… it breaks things."
"When people get close to me, their powers stop working. I didn't mean to, I swear. It just… happens."
"Is that so?"
She nodded, tears starting to gather at the corners of her eyes. "They kept hurting me to figure it out. They said I was dangerous."
"That I could break anyone. Even people like me."
Soren slowly extended his hand.
"Well." He said with a small smile.
"Lucky for us… I don't break easy."
Jenny looked at the hand, long fingers, glowing softly with arcane warmth. Her hand trembled as she reached for it.
The moment her fingers touched his… nothing happened. The magic didn't fade.
The ward still shimmered around them like a thin veil of silk.
Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You're… not normal."
"No one worth trusting is." Soren said, and gently pulled her to her feet.
Her skin was ice-cold and damp with sweat. Her small frame shook as if every step might shatter her.
He carefully placed a hand on her back to steady her, but said nothing, only led her toward the nearest exit.
But just as he began preparing the teleportation spell, Jenny tugged gently at his robe.
"Sir…" She whispered. "Wait… just one moment. I want to see it… one last time."
He followed her gaze to a small porthole window embedded into the side wall of the lab, barely big enough for a face. She padded over, slowly, then pressed her forehead against the glass.
Jenny stared out, eyes distant, remembering things Soren could never see, laughter, sunlight, maybe the smell of spring grass before it all ended.
"I used to pretend I could fly out that window." She said.
"When they hurt me… I'd stare at the stars. I thought maybe someone would see me and come."
He watched her in silence.
That's when it happened.
A brilliant flash tore across the sky, a silver-white comet streaking fast, slicing the clouds open like a blade.
Its light bathed the room for a breath, then vanished just as quickly, trailing a shimmering tail that bent space behind it.
Jenny gasped. "What was that?"
Soren stiffened. His mind instantly calculated: the trajectory, the velocity, the intention.
"Multiple times the speed of sound…"
"Let's go, Jenny," Soren had said, right before everything dimmed.
The instant they arrived, the little girl staggered forward, legs wobbling. Her body swayed like a puppet with frayed strings.
Soren's arms darted forward, steadying her before she collapsed onto the tiled floor of his private medical chamber.
She looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes, she hadn't expected to fall, and yet she clearly had no strength left.
Her lips parted slightly, trying to speak, but nothing came. She was beyond words.
Soren didn't ask questions.
He just gently scooped her up and laid her on a softly glowing medical platform, one hand reaching toward the chamber's central console.
With a flick of his fingers, the ambient lights dimmed, and a pulse of warm golden energy flowed across the walls.
He adjusted the focus carefully this time. Not like before, when he'd healed minor cuts or stabilized internal injuries during emergencies.
Now, he tuned the power for total restoration.
Jenny lay silently as the green mist began to coil around her limbs, her chest, her forehead. Her shallow breathing deepened.
The scars on her skin shimmered, then slowly vanished like morning frost under sunlight. Pinholes sealed. Old burns softened, then faded.
Her brittle fingernails regained their color. Even the dark rings beneath her eyes lifted, revealing soft, pinkish skin.
Her hand twitched. Then her toes curled slightly. When she opened her eyes again, there was no pain… just wonder.
"Sir…" Voice cracked like glass, but it held joy. "I… I feel better."
She lifted her hand, turning it slowly in front of her face. Her fingers, once punctured and swollen, now looked untouched, the skin smooth and pale like porcelain.
Her eyes widened with childlike awe, then slowly a radiant, fragile smile bloomed on her lips.
It was the first smile she had truly meant in years.
Soren returned the smile. "Jenny."
"No one will hurt you again. Not as long as I live."
The girl sat up, still weak but carried by adrenaline Jenny walked, barefoot, slow, unsteady, through the chamber. She didn't ask for permission.
She didn't need to. For the first time, she was allowed to just be.
She knelt by a glowing plant with yellow blossoms and cupped its petals. A small laugh escaped her lips.
"You grew these?"
Soren nodded from where he leaned against the wall, arms folded. "All of them. Each one has a purpose. And a name."
Jenny twirled slowly. "It's like a dream."
"You deserve it."
Eventually, exhaustion caught up to her. The adrenaline wore off.
Soren wordlessly guided her to a small resting nook padded with soft moss and a silken coverlet. She didn't resist.
She lay down, curled into herself like a cat, and her breath slowed. Sleep came for her, deep and dreamless.
Soren stood there in silence for a long while.
She was safe.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Congratulations to Host: You have healed a Class B Character — Jenny]
Character: Jenny
World Rank: Class B
Ability: X-Gene Inhibitor Lv 7
[Note: Ability suppresses all X-gene activity within a short radius, temporarily nullifying even Omega-level mutants. Range is limited, but intensity is absolute]
Soren felt it immediately, a strange shift around him. The arcane threads in the room didn't weaken, but any latent mutant resonance, no matter how subtle, faded to nothing in his presence.
So this was the power she had.
A natural check on the most dangerous force in this world.
"Even Magneto…" Soren muttered to himself.
"Even Jean."
A sleek black jet sliced through the dawn sky and landed near the hospital's private airstrip. The X-Men had arrived, battered and drained.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream