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A day turned into a week and Claudine refused the Professor's help each time he offered it. She didn't want the help because that would only acknowledge what was happening to her and she did not want to think about that world of monsters and mutants and villains. She immersed herself instead in her work in the lab and her school work. It was better than having to face her problems and way better than Logan's Danger Room sessions. Hell, maybe if she completely ignored it her powers would simply disappear. That thought was soon disproved though. Every single waking hour there was the chatter of other's minds in her head; Kitty wanted this new dress and Scott and Jean were cuddling and Bobby and Kurt were coming up with a brilliant plan to freeze over the pool. The only person whose thoughts didn't invade her mind was Laura's. She still had no clue about her roommate or where she came from, how she ended up here, or anything else for that matter. She had to admit her curiosity even if it was only the slightest bit.

The worst were the nights because she would go to bed uncertain of how or if she would wake up herself again or if the darkness inside of her would swallow her up. Laura had woken her up one night because half the room was lifted off the ground, only to crash to the floor as she woke up. She knew what the others thought of her; that she needed help, that she was out of control. She wasn't though. She kept telling herself that every time Sinister met her in her dreams or she stood over the corpses of her challengers. She knew also that the Professor was getting concerned for her. At school she didn't talk to anyone, she simply went there to get the grade and brushed past all of the others like they didn't matter. They didn't.

"Are you alright?" Jean had asked her, "You haven't spoken to anyone all day."

"Why does everyone keep asking me that!" she snapped at the red head. She paused for a moment and smiled in derision but caught herself and quickly spat, "I'm so sorry. That was-terrible of me. I just have a lot on my mind. There's this thing and…I've got to go."

She turned before Jean could get another word in. "There was this thing? How much more obvious could it be besides if I actually said 'hey Jean, I really couldn't care less'? She felt guilty as hell, but she had to get back to work. She figured if she worked hard enough in her research that she might find a cure and be able to speak without holding back what she really meant to say.

The lab wasn't much better. She had taken another blood sample and thought she had reached a breakthrough. A few cells were still uninfected. She had broken the table in two in anger when the virus had taken those over too. Radiation hadn't worked either; it destroyed the remaining cells while encouraging the diseased ones to take over. She had cursed and slammed her fist down on the table. Dr. McCoy had told her to get some rest, but how could she rest when she knew at any moment she could simply lose the battle?

She tried to keep her eyes open as long as she could and tried thinking about everything but sleep, but unfortunately one can preoccupy oneself with vanilla soft serve for only so long. She felt her eyes closing and her mind wandering into drowsiness. "I-gotta stay up," she mumbled to herself before closing her eyes.

She was back in her room and awake. She was so glad that she hadn't fallen asleep. Laura was still asleep though. She looked so vulnerable when she was just lying there like that. She smiled but wasn't quite sure why. She knew it had something to do with X23. "Come on, don't you hate her? Wouldn't you like to get her back for all of those things she's said to you?" she thought to herself. It was tempting.

Without another thought she found herself using her powers to will Laura to get up and face her. She did as Claudine wanted her to. "Yes," she thought and smiled. She willed Laura to point the backs of her hands to her abdomen. Claudine anticipated the snikt of her claws and the screams of pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Laura at her, "Stop messing with my head!" Her claws were dangerously close to her skin and getting closer.

"Huh?" asked Claudine sleepily and then realized that it hadn't just been a dream. She was torn out of her trance and allowed Laura out of her power. "Was-was that me?" she asked, looking at her hands in disbelief.

"Yeah! Do you really think I was doing this out of free will?" she snarled and pinned Claudine against the wall, her claws still out, "I knew that I shouldn't have trusted you."

Claudine wasn't even listening anymore. She stayed limp against the wall and stared at the floor. Laura continued to scream at her, "What were you thinking? You could have fucking killed me!"

She didn't know what she had been thinking. Something inside of her just told her that it was right. She should kill because it was what he made her to do. She looked up vaguely at the sound of the Professor coming in and Logan pulling Laura off of her. She let herself fall to the ground with no support and lay on the ground panting and feeling the power still well up inside.

"What's goin' on here?" demanded Logan. Claudine saw Laura waving around her arms and saw her lips moving rapidly, but she couldn't bring herself to hear the words. She lay there limply because she felt terrible; terrible that she had not killed her target in cold blood.

She looked up once again to see the Professor standing over her and asking what had happened, but she didn't answer back. She felt a tear slide down her face. "I don't belong with the others Professor. I'm not good like they are. I'm worse than what we fight against."

They eventually left and let her alone. The Professor reasoned that she needed time. This was all just too much stress on her. She needed training. He hadn't bothered to read her mind because he already had filled his up with an endless queue of excuses.

Claudine had decided in the morning that it would be most logical to go to the Professor for help. She decided that all's she needed was help. It had all been a combination of stress and her expanding powers. Maybe AP Chemistry could kill.

She stood outside of his office door for a long time. "Maybe I've gone insane," she thought to herself and resolved the question with, "probably," and knocked.

"Claudine, I have been expecting you," he smiled.

"Hello," she smiled back and stared into his eyes, "I tried to ignore it, Professor, but I can't anymore. It's dangerous. I don't know why I'm acting this way."

His face turned serious, "This serum is appears to be changing not just your physical state, but also your mental state. It is quite impressive that you have been able to ignore it for this long, Miss Renko." She felt her eyes well up with tears and a knot formed in her throat.

"You mean to say that this is me now?" she asked incredulously, "I hurt people. I manipulate them when I don't mean to. I don't want to be this way." She began to cry openly.

"Your mind is strong though," replied the professor, "I believe if you train hard enough you can control it."

"I shouldn't have to," she said quietly in a hard voice, "Can't you put a mental block up again, or something?"

"I'm sorry Claudine," he replied regretfully. She couldn't speak. The professor called out to her when she got up and ran out, knocking over the chair as she went.

"Whoa, vat's wrong?" asked Kurt to the sobbing girl. She didn't answer and brushed past him like he wasn't even there. She ran to her only safe haven and hoped that Mr. McCoy was busy somewhere else.