Second to last chapter (well actually the last, the next one is just a short epilogue), also the longest. Enjoy.

"Hello, Haley," a voice said.

"Pietro," she greeted without opening her eyes. She had grown so acustomed to just answering that way. "When are you ever going to get the picture?" she asked in exasperation.

The voice said nothing for a moment. "How quickly you have forgotten."

"Forgotten what?" she snorted, thinking he was the one who had forgotten.

"Who I am."

She opened her eyes. Much to her chagrin, it wasn't Pietro standing there. It was Jack, her ex. She suddenly grew serious. "How did you find me, Jack?" she asked coldly. Not in the least bit frightened, Haley boldly stared him down.

"I have my ways." He said nonchalantly as he lied down on her bed. "It's payback time, Haley. It seems that you won't take me back," he paused a moment to inhale deeply. "So I guess I'll just have to ruin your life."

"Sorry, I already beat you to it," she muttered dryly. "Besides," she continued, getting louder. "You really don't want to mess with me, Jack. You don't know what I'm capable of," she warned. This guy was so getting out of hand. Stalking her into a different state is where she drew the line.

He jumped off the bed and glowered down at her. "Oh, I believe I do," he growled. Jack grabbed hold of her wrist. "I know exactly what you are." Her skin started to burn like it was on fire. Her eyes watered from the pain. "Because I'm exactly like you. The only thing is, I didn't take up your little professor's offer."

She blinked dumbly. "He'll know you're here."

"Actually Professor X is out and about. Besides," he said as he lit his free hand on fire. "I don't think you want me to burn down this lovely mansion." Her eyes widened, knowing that he was crazy enough to do it. "Just think of all your little friends," he continued in a taunting voice.

She swallowed hard. Maybe somebody would come and check on her soon... Trying to stall him, Haley inquired, "How did you figure it out?"

Jack grinned proudly. "Well, it was probably last the last time that I saw you when I first realized it. You most likely had just gotten your powers by then. However, I didn't put it together until a few days later when I realized you were missing. That was when I found the card for this place in one of my drawers. But this isn't the place to chit chat." he sneered at her. She shrunk away from him, only to realize she had no place to go.

Being a strong guy, Jack had managed to knock out Haley without using much of his strength. He then carried her off to the location where he planned to kill her. "Sorry about that," he told Haley as she regained consciousness. "I couldn't risk you knowing the location. Who knows all the crazy stuff the people at the Institute can do. But I do have a feeling you don't know much more than I..." he trailed off.

Haley struggled to get free, but her legs and arms had been tied to a chair. Her hands were positioned in a spot that made it incredibly painful to even think about using her powers. "Let me go," she snarled at him.

"I don't think I will. See, here's why. I control fire; you control water. I'm going to set this place on fire. If you were free, you have the option to run or to douse the fire. Now let's say you do get free, by that time most of this place will be on fire. You won't have any water to protect yourself anymore and will still die. That is why I won't untie you. It defeats the purpose."

She stared up at him, afraid for the first time. He intended on killing her. Seriously, the stalking was bad enough. But murder? This dude was insane.

Jack leaned over to bring his eyes level with Haley. "And before I go to blockade all the entrances and exits of this dump and set this place on fire, a farewell kiss," he said in mock splendor.

He closed the distance between his and Haley's lips. As they made contact, she bit his lower lip as hard as she could. He screamed and back away, blood on both of there mouths. "You always were a feisty one," he chuckled, wiping the blood from his mangled lips.

"Good night, good night, parting is such sweet sorrow," he taunted her.

"You're about to kill me and you quote Romeo & Juliet?" she screeched at him.

Holding out his hand, Jack said, "There's no need to yell. Not that anyone can hear you anyway. Just in case though…" He pulled out a bandana and gagged her. "Goodbye, my lady." He cackled as he walked away, feeling pleased with himself.

---

Kurt teleported into Haley's room. Everyone had said that she was in there, and he had finally made up his mind. "Haley?" he called gently when he didn't see her right away. He stepped on something and looked down. It was a card for the Institute, the edges of it slightly burnt. He involuntarily shuddered as he put it away in his pocket.

The room was eerily silent and Haley's balcony doors were open. However, she wasn't out there. Where could she be? Kurt could only think of one explanation. "Pietro," he hissed quietly. Then, he teleported himself to the Brotherhood house.

He knocked on the door violently, until Pietro opened the door. "What do you want X-geek?" he scowled, still bitter about his earlier loss.

"Where is she?" he asked angrily.

The other mutant raised a confused eyebrow. "Who?"

"Haley, who else?"

Pietro rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know where she is. I didn't kidnap her this time."

"Well, somebody did," Kurt said, exasperated. He wracked his mind for where she could be.

"She's missing?"

"I shouldn't be surprised that you haven't figured that out yet," he spat.

"Whoa, calm down, fuzz ball." Not wanting talk to the angry teen any longer, Pietro called for Fred. "He's kidnapped one of you guys before too. Ask him."

Blob stood confounded in the doorway. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know…try finding something old and abandoned. It usually works."

Kurt frantically searched the town for Haley. Then, his eye caught something. It was a large flame in the distance. Remembering the burnt edges of the card, he decided that this was his best lead.

Outside of the old warehouse, Jack was setting a good fire up, blasting almost every square inch of wood. Kurt landed in front of him. "What the hell are you supposed to be?" he asked, surprised by the elf.

"I'm Nightcrawler."

"Jeez, you must be one of those lame people from the Institute. And I thought I was a freak!" He chuckled in delight. "Okay, well come on, let's have a fight!" He started throwing fire at him, who nimbly leapt out of the way every time.

The fight went on like this for a while. They both tried to delve blows at each other, but neither were very successful. Kurt became aggravated and worried for Haley. A normal person can barely survive a fire, but she was a mutant who thrived on water. This was more of a double blow towards her. He wanted to teleport in, but Jack was keeping him busy.

A rush of wind announced the arrival of Quicksilver. "You go in and get Haley out," he instructed Nightcrawler. "I'll take care of this hothead." Kurt nodded and teleported into the blazing building.

Inside, Haley was hacking and choking on the smoke. She felt weak and dizzy with the absence of water and just regular oxygen. Her vision was being distorted by black dots. She could feel how uneven and faint her heartbeat was becoming. It looks like Jack had succeeded in his quest to ruin her life. She would be dead in the matter of minutes. Although, it would have been more acurate of him to say end instead of ruin...

"Haley?!" Kurt shouted above the roar of the flames. Haley wanted to shout out, but she was gagged and making any kind of noise would be too much. However, a little part of her rejoiced that he still cared enough about her to save her.

She needed to alert him that she was here somehow. The place was big and he could be looking anywhere. Using what little energy she had left, she rocked her chair until it crashed to the ground. Her shoulder absorbed the shock in this process, leaving her in pain. Hearing the noise, Kurt went to investigate.

Outside, Pietro was frustrated. Jack had just melted the rubber of his sneakers to the ground. "Bull shit!" he yelled. "These were my good pair too!" He quickly slid out of the shoes and ran out of the way.

Kurt approached a mass on the floor. "Haley?" he asked quietly, trying to see through the heavy smoke as he rushed over. She only responded with a weak cough. Working as fast as he could, her untied tied her and took off the gag.

She managed a small smile. "Thanks," her voice was dry and small. Then she wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could. "I-"

"Now is not the best time!" Kurt said as the building creaked and groaned. There was a loud bang as part of the ceiling fell. "Hold on," he whispered as he teleported them out of there.

Once out of the barn, Haley was finally able to breathe. She took a deep breath of air, but ended up choking on it. He hushed her and held her in his arms. "It's raining," she said with a smile as a raindrop hit her cheek. It was soon pouring.

"I think that's Storm trying to douse the fire," he told her gently.

"I know…it's nice... Kurt, next time, get me out of there before you untie me."

"You're planning on pulling that stunt, again?" he asked in disbelief.

The rest of the X-men rushed towards the two. "A little late on reaction time, guys" she joked, lightly. She blinked a couple of times, light-headed from the amount of oxygen available to her.

"Nice work, Kurt," Jean said. "You got her out in time and tied up the jerk that created this mess."

"Oh, I can't take all the credit," he said with a laugh. "Pietro must have finished him up. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him."

"Pietro?" Haley asked, surprised.

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, he came at a good time."

Professor Xavier came up to the group of teens. "Sorry about this entire mess, students. I should be more careful the next time I leave. We'll have to keep you in the infirmary overnight, Haley," he informed her.

"Will I have to go to school tomorrow?"

He chuckled. "No, of course not, tomorrow's Saturday."