I do not own X men.

Claire woke up, her head against a cool, hard surface. She opened her eyes to pitch black surroundings and strained to remember where she was. The fire in her room, searching for John to return his igniter. Then she remembered.

Spkye.

Her mouth went dry as the memories flooded through her mind. She must still be in the forest. He probably just left her after...

She gulped, trying to push back the memory. She could still feel Spyke's knees digging into her legs as he kneeled on top of her. She still felt the spike scraping her skin as he shredded her clothes.

She sat up and rocked back and forth dangerously, still a little woozy. She realized that it was too dark and too quiet for her to still be in the forest. Where was she? She slipped her feet over the side of the bed she was on and tried sliding onto the floor.

She steadied herself against the bed and strained her eyes against the darkness, but didn't see anything. She let go of the bed and tried to feel her way to through the dark, but within a few seconds she had lost her strength and collapsed onto the floor.

She sat panting in the sea of black that surrounded her, wondering where she was. Had Spyke brought her here? Was she dead?

She felt exhausted, even though she knew she had only walked a few feet. She remembered the funny smelling cloth that had been put over her face and how it had made her completely helpless.

She tried to talk but couldn't form words, tried to scream for help but it came out as mumbles. She tried to push Spyke off of her, to fight back, but could not lift her arms. She felt a rock pressed against her hand and tried to use it as a weapon, but she couldn't wrap her fingers around it.

The panic that had come to her began to return and that, mixed with the exhaustion that was quickly overcoming her, caused tears to begin trailing down her face.

She was lost, alone, and wished she were dead rather than have these memories flowing through her mind. A sob shook her shoulders awkwardly, zapping her of any remaining energy.

Then suddenly, the lights flipped on and Storm was standing in the doorway, looking down at her.

John and Storm both looked at the dark doorway, listening to the sudden sound.

"Claire-" John said, realizing it was her sobs and starting for her room.

"No John." Storm got in his way, blocking his path to the door. "I'll take care of this."

John watched her open the door and enter the other room, leaving the door ajar for him to listen through.

Storm rushed over and knelt down next to Claire, who was no longer crying but staring at her Professor in surprise.

"Storm? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, Claire?" she asked, perplexed. She put her arms around her student. "You're in the mansion, it's okay. You're safe now."

She helped support Claire as she climbed back onto the bed.

"Claire you should really get some sleep. You've been through a lot and we can always talk in the morning." Storm said.

"I don't want to sleep." Claire said quietly, dreading the dreams that would come to her.

"Claire..." Storm began, sitting next to her. "What happened out there?"

"Spyke. One of Magneto's men. He tricked me into going into the woods and...attacked me." she gulped.

"Claire, you don't have to right away but I need you to tell me exactly what happened out there, okay?"

"Can I tell you now?" Claire asked.

"Now? Are you sure?" Storm said, looking uncertain.

"Might as well get it over with, right?" Claire said, almost in a whisper.

"Alright, but only if you are sure." Storm agreed.

"He..." she tried to force herself to say the word. "My clothes." she said, looking down at herself. She still had them on as they clung to her by a few strips of fabric.

"He tore them when he..." again her tongue refused to say it.

"Claire, what he tried to do to you...that's all it was...he tried but John stopped him before he could do anything." Storm said gently.

"John?" Claire asked, suddenly remembering his face. Spyke had been hit from behind and had rolled off of her. Then she had seen John.

"Where is he?" Claire asked, feeling an uncontrollable desire to see him.

"He left."

"What? Why?" she asked, confused.

"He is one of Magneto's men. He doesn't belong here. He knew that."

Claire barely nodded.

She heard the two men fight as if through a long tunnel. They seemed so far off.

"He won't see me." she thought. "He is going to leave."

She tried calling to him but her tongue only formed gibberish. She tried getting up but her motor skills seemed to have been turned off. She searched through her hazy mind for some way to get his attention before he left. Then she remembered the igniter attached to her hand.

She tried lifting it up and flicking it but her arm only rolled out a little from her side, her hand flopping uselessly. She tried flicking the igniter.

Her fingers didn't move.

She focused on her hand and getting the energy to her useless fingers. They moved slightly, but not enough to create a flame. Darkness began to cloud the edges of her vision as she focused all of her energy and determination through her arm, into her hand and fingers. She felt the igniter click, but didn't see anything as she began to black out.

The last thing she remembered was John's face appearing as a speck surrounded by the immense black that was her mind. When she saw him she knew she was okay and allowed herself relax and she passed out.

"Claire?" Storm asked, breaking her out of the nightmarish memory.

Even if Spyke had failed in his attempt to rape her, it had still been one of the scariest moments of her life. "Storm?" she asked.

"Yes Claire?"

"My power is supposed to take kinetic force from attacks and allow me to use them on others." she paused. "I could feel Spyke's horns as he tore my clothes. He hit me, but why couldn't I hit him back?" she looked up as Storm, confused as to why her usually unstoppable power had failed her the one time she needed it.

Storm paused, thinking the question over. "Well, even though you have not learned how to control your power yet, somewhere in your mind lies the trigger to it. Whatever chemical he used on you impaired your motor skills and must have impaired other parts of your brain, including the part that uses your power."

John leaned against the wall, listening to their conversation. Something weird was going on. Claire's description of her power was so far off. Taking kinetic force and using it on others? Since when had he seen her power do that? Maybe it was just one of the reactions her power had had with someone. He listened for more.

"Storm." Claire said. "What am I supposed to do?"

"About what?" Storm asked.

"About everything! About Spyke, about my stupid powers, about-"

"Your powers are not stupid, Claire." Storm said, cutting her off. John could almost see the intense look she must have been giving Claire.

"Yeah? Well it's not like they are doing me any good! The one time I need them, they leave me and I'm left more than helpless! What is the point of having them if I can't control it and I can't even use it in a useful situation!"

Storm's voice was calm and quiet. "Claire, your power has helped you plenty of times. Not only has it saved you the pain of everyday cuts and bruises, but it saved your life when your boyfriend attacked you. Just because this one time it wasn't there, doesn't mean it has never done any good."

John could hear the tears in Claire's voice. Her voice was muffled, like she was speaking from behind an embrace of Storm's.

"This was a really important time."

John straightened himself and swallowed. He couldn't stand here and listen to Claire's wracking sobs and he knew that he would regret it if he went in there with Storm. He walked over to another door and exited into the hallway, slipping out of the mansion quietly.

He was deep in thought, not just of the events of the night but what he had heard Claire and Storm saying. One thing was sure, Claire had been lying to the Brotherhood. Somehow she had kept her secret for nearly a year. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around it but it somehow made sense.

Claire Richards had two power.

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