Sorry for the huge delay! I hope you enjoy it!

I do not own X men.

The next morning when Claire woke up and remembered the night before she went into freak out mode.

"What was I thinking! Stupid! Stupid, stupid!" she whispered to herself all through the day.

No wonder you haven't seen Pyro all day, you scared him off! Now he thinks your damaged! He won't come within a mile of you!

ARG!

After lunch she made her way to her usual hangout: The large campfire exactly in the middle of the sea of tents.

Well, it was usually the largest fire. When Pyro was there. Surprise, surprise, he was no where to be seen when Claire walked up.

"Hey Claire baby!" Claire flinched at Spyke's voice. "Come here 'n give me a kiss."

Claire held back a wretch. "Dream on Spyke." he laughed it off. What a creepy guy. She made a mental note to shiver later.

"You're later than usual." Callisto said, trying to change the subject. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine, just a bit tired I guess." she lied.

Callisto studied her but she refused to make eye contact. Instead she pretended she didn't feel her gaze and joined Multiple Man to try and catch damp sticks on fire.

"Hey guys." the voice nearly made Claire fall off her seat in surprise.

"Hey Pyro, where ya been buddy?" Spkye exclaimed. Claire remained focused on the fire.

"Helping Magneto, he's going over strategies and stuff." Claire felt Pyro glance at her but chose to ignore it.

"You seen this 'secret weapon' everybody's been talking about." Spyke continued, oblivious to the tension that had settled on the group.

"Naw, he's trying to keep it under wraps."

"Well pull up a seat bro', stay awhile!" Spyke motioned towards the stump next to him.

"No I gotta split, I'm just supposed to get Claire, Magneto wants you."

"Oh, ok." she stood up stiffly and followed him off towards Magneto's tent. She realized too late that she was still carrying the smouldering stick and stuffed it in the ground to try and extinguish it. The ground turned out to be hard packed and she kicked dirt onto the tip. In her nervousness she broke the stick and decided to give up. Pyro was watching her from several feet away with a cocked eyebrow.

Mumbling something about forest fires she began following John again, cursing herself for not keeping her cool.

Great, as if this couldn't be anymore awkward! she screamed at herself.

"So, Magneto planning on an attack or something?" Claire asked, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah, he says he's tired of these woods, I guess we all kind of are."

"Yeah."

More awkward silence.

"What does Magneto want me for?" Claire asked as they stepped into the clearing used for training.

"He doesn't."

Claire looked around but no one was there. "Huh?"

John turned to her with that look, that look that every teacher at Mutant High gave her.

Oh crap. She thought. Here it comes. The pity speech. She dreaded it, the whole "I'm here if you need anything, you can come to me" thing. It was always the same. What was worse was everything afterwards. Like everyone knew she had been through crap and wanted to make sure she didn't go through anymore. She did not need this.

"Listen John." she cut him off before he could even start. She took the opportunity to study his face, his pity filled eyes included. They looked awkward, like he'd never used this look on anyone before.

"I don't know what happened last night...but I really don't remember it too clearly."

"Oh." he said, caught off guard.

"See, I have a tendency to make up stories when I wake up in the middle of the night." she lied. "So if I said anything funny, just disregard it as my mind drooling all over itself in an attempt to get back to sleep."

She had a feeling he saw straight through her lie, but he played along, trying not to look like a fool.

"Yeah." he seemed as eager to change the subject as she was. "Magneto is planning an attack soon and he wants his right-hand man to go with him." he smiled as if this were the best thing in the world that could happen to him.

The bottom of Claire's stomach fell to the forest floor. "Fighting?" was all she could say.

"Yeah, isn't it awesome! We're finally getting started, finally we will wipe out all of these homo sapien idiots!" he was getting worked up now, pacing around like a restless tiger in a cage. Claire watched him with a look of fear thinly veiled by her attempt at looking happy for him.

"Cool." she smiled.

He didn't pick up on the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. She knew that this had been coming, but she still wasn't used to it. In the time she had lived with Magneto's men she had seen exactly what joining his cause meant. She had seen mutants disappear and the mass funerals where Magneto gave speeches about how they furthered the noble cause. No matter how much she had allowed Magneto to grow on her she could never allow his vision to become her own. Too many were hurt, to many lost their lives and now the boy she had feelings for was standing in front of her, ranting about how happy he was to do the same.

When he had run himself out he announced that Magneto was calling an assembly to announce his plan and show his secret weapon for the first time. Rumors had flown around the camp about what it could possibly be. A bomb had been the general consensus.

She approached the large crowd several steps behind John, who was trying his hardest not to run. He glanced back for a brief moment to make sure she had followed him and then disappeared towards the hill where Magneto stood. There was a woman standing next to him with brilliant red hair. Claire squinted up, confused. She had only seen red hair like that on one other person, but she was dead.

Magneto began speaking and introduced everyone to the woman. He said she was their secret weapon...Claire gasped when he announced this new addition to their team.

Jean Grey.