I do not own X men.

Warren walked Claire to her room and said a brief goodnight, noticing she had become quieter since they got into the maze.

Claire's thoughts would have been racing if they weren't so tangled up in each other. Her mind seemed stuck on the image of John in the maze. Was she going insane? Had her grief made her lose it?

She had been trying to befriend Warren but did it with an ounce of guilt. She felt that deep down she was only trying to use him to bandage up her heart. Obviously her subconscious wanted her to be as miserable as possible and remind her that John was gone.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she had gotten when their eyes met.

She kept thinking of the small clicking noise that his ignitors had made. It was so real. He was so real. Could hallucinations make noise?

Warren wished her a goodnight and she shut the door gently but didn't move, letting her emotions sweep over her. The sight of Hallucination John filled her with ecstacy which slowly drained from her, leaving the sadness that she had felt before. She felt a tear streaking down her face and promised herself it would be the only one. She sniffed back the other tears and went to go take a shower.

Except someone was sitting on her bed.

Someone with brown hair that he had recently bleached.

Someone who made her stomach do a somersault.

Someone who was watching her closely, making and extinguishing a flame with his ignitors.

Claire screamed in a mixture of surprise and fear. John jumped to his feet and ran over to her and took her by the shoulders.

"What are you doing!? Calm down! It's me!" he said in a harsh whisper.

Claire starred at him, awestruck. He was touching her. She could feel his hands pressing the arms of her sweatshirt. She was looking into his panicking eyes. It wasn't a ghost or a hallucination (or if it was it was a very convincing one.)

"John?" she breathed, since for the second time that night the air in her lungs had disappeared.

"Claire." he gave a relieved smile and let go of her arms. "Are you crazy? Yelling like that? What if someone hears?"

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. Claire jumped.

"Claire?" it was Bobby's voice.

Claire could see John tense at the familiar voice. They used to be best friends, what happened?

"Claire, are you okay? I heard you scream."

"Oh, I'm okay!" she called. "I thought I saw a spider." she lied, playing the part of a helpless girl. After a year of living in a forest, spiders were the least of her fears.

"You want me to get it?" he offered, beginning to turn the handle.

Claire threw herself at the door. "No! I'm changing Bobby."

"Oh." she could almost see him blushing through the door. "Okay then."

John and Claire waited for a minute in silence to make sure Bobby had left before Claire locked her door and turned back to her surprise guest.

"Him and me have been overdo for a little chat, you should have-oof." Claire tackled him in a hug. She hugged him hard and spoke quickly.

"John I can't believe it's you! How is this possible?! Spyke asked Toad and hesaidyouweredeadandIdidntknowwhat-" her last words came out as one.

"Woah, woah, what?" he interrupted, puzzled. He gently pushed her away from him and searched her face. "What did Spyke tell you?"

"I was asking about you. Spyke asked Toad and said he said you were dead." Just the memory caused a pang of sadness.

"And you believed him?" he cocked an eyebrow. "You do realize he is constantly trying to get into your pants, right? He would have said anything to try and look like the nice guy. Let me guess," John's expression turned to one of mock sentimentality. "Was he a real sweetheart in your time of need?"

Claire's mouth dropped open to deny it. She thought of Spyke helping her to sit down and the hand on the knee, the unpleasant closeness.

"Am I an idiot?" she asked, incredually.

John laughed. "No, he's stupid but he knows how to manipulate people when he wants to."

Claire nodded at this. He had been so convincing. "Just tell me one thing." he said, once again getting that mocking sentimental look. "Were you sad when he told you?"

Claire thought about it. She thought about vomiting, about running back to the mansion and breaking down in tears as soon as she got here. She thought about the empty feeling that she had been carrying around and the meals she had not eaten. She promised herself that she would never let John know.

"Actually, I was kind of relieved." she smiled.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I thought 'Hey, maybe now someone else can have a shot at being Magneto's pet'" she teased.

John seemed a little hurt. "Oh yeah, then why did you run?" he dared.

"Because as soon as Spyke told me, I called 'dibs' and he got mad, got some people together and they chased me off." she shrugged.

They both laughed. "Claire, what are you really doing here?" he asked after they had settled down.

She shrugged. "I didn't see anything left there for me. All I saw was a bunch of bullies beating each other up. I figured if you were gone it was just a matter of time before every other bearable person met the same fate."

"But of all places to come you, come here?! They are the enemy!"

"Where else was I supposed to go? I don't want to live on the streets! This was the only safe place I could come."

"Interesting that you say it is safe here," he replied with biting sarcasm. "I seem to remember not too long ago when I was living here and this place was attacked by the government! How can you call this safe?!" he said, exasperated.

"How can you say following Magneto is safe?!" she said, frustrated. "He is the most wanted man in the world! Everyone is after him and since you are his right hand man, everyone is after you!"

She had gotten him mad now. "So you run?! You think running is going to keep you any safer?"

"At least I'm not marching into the heat of battle with thousands of weapons aimed at me!"

"At least I'm not hiding out waiting for others to figure out my future! I am out there fighting for my freedom while you run from one place to another pretending it isn't happening!"

"Shut up John! Just shut up!" five minutes of knowing he was alive and they were already arguing.

"You're only mad because you know that I am right!"

"Get out!"

He stopped short and glared at her. Her stomach turned at the sight of it. She had seen that glare turned on hundreds, but never her. He walked over to the open window and climbing over the ledge, disappeared, the glare burned into her memory right next to the first time she had ever seen him laugh.

So much for that happy reunion