"Oh my God…" Clara called out tearfully as she watched the smoke go up to the sky.

Peter turned to her, "We need to get back"

"Let's hope Kurt got them out. You need to take me to the sight of the plane" Clara told him.

"You got it" Peter nodded, "But what about our mission with him?"

Clara turned to Peter as she said, "There's nothing we can do. Erik's always done things his own way"

"But what if he continues to disrupt the magnetic field?"

Clara looked up to Erik as he stared down at them, listening in to their entire conversation. She had to hold on to the little shred of hope that when he saved her from falling just a moment ago, that meant something more than just a gesture. Her mind rushed back to how she almost fell as something clicked in her mind. If Erik had the heart to save her when she was in danger than maybe he would stop this if he knew she was intending to go after Apocalypse. The thought made her terrified of the suicide mission, but she knew she had to do something impulsive to make him stop.

"I'm going to go back to fight for what I have left" Clara told him, "Are you?"

Just like before, Peter took her within a flash before he said, "You should wait here while I look around. The feeling will pass soon enough. I don't want you out in the open while you're not yourself. Be right back. Don't go anywhere"

Clara huffed, "Believe me, I won't. Warn me next time, will you?"

"There's no one in the rubble except for that one guy" Peter said after about a second of leaving her alone.

Clara furrowed her eyebrows as she slowly got up and looked over the barrier to the crash behind her. The angel mutant was lying in the rubble, half burned but pretty much dead. A small part of her wished it was her that evened out the score instead of a simple plan crash. A purple force field appeared out of nowhere near the sight, making Clara quickly duck down and grab onto Peter to follow.

"It's him" Clara whispered, "He's out there, the transference wasn't complete. He seems to be alone right now"

"Charles!" Apocalypse shouted out making Clara and Peter look to each other, "Show yourself! Charles! Show yourself!"

Clara turned to tell Peter something but then realized that he was no longer by her side, she looked around at her sides before she glanced back over the brick wall.

She gasped when she noticed Apocalypse was being flown around in different directions as something quick and silver was swirling past him. Just as when she thought that she had only seen Apocalypse was being thrown around for a split second, she noticed Peter had suddenly stopped.

Clara watched in horror before she could do anything as the ancient mutant had grabbed Peter's fist and kicked the poor man's leg in, breaking it. His scream made her snap out of it as she moved to help him but someone stopped her. She turned and noticed Mystique was by her side as she transformed into the long haired mutant woman.

"Wait here" she said in her own voice.

"You better hurry the hell up"

Mystique nodded as she came out of hiding and walked into Apocalypse's view. He turned and looked to her as Mystique waved her sword around. Apocalypse looked down to the young man, grabbed him by the hair and moved his head back to expose his neck. Mystique moved slowly up to them as Clara watched from their hide out.

Apocalypse nodded over to Peter, "End him"

She moved her sword out and sliced up instead of down to reveal a gash on Apocalypse's neck. Clara was about to smile when she noticed that the slice did nothing to the mutant as he reached out and grabbed onto her neck. Clara watched as the man lifted her up as Mystique lost concentration as she transformed into her blue form as Apocalypse taunted her. She couldn't watch anymore as she trembled and looked back in Erik's direction. She let out a shaky breath as she noticed that he was still in his magnetic shield but looking over to what was happening on the ground.

Clara whispered, "Will you do nothing?"

Clara turned back around as she got up and walked out of her hiding spot and stood only a couple of feet away from Apocalypse. He turned his eyes toward her as Clara let her flames consume her hands as she stared down their ancestor.

Apocalypse smirked, "The Ember, Erik has told me all about you"

"I'd tread lightly if I were you, old man"

"You dare taunt your father?"

Clara scoffed, "My father was taken away from me long ago. He'd be proud for what I'm about to do to you"

Clara waved out her hands and blast a part of his body away from both Peter and Mystique. He dropped Mystique to the ground and walked a couple of spaces back. She raised out her hand and shot out her flames in mini fireballs one after another.

Each time he moved back, Clara moved forward as she gave him everything she got, knowing once he recuperate, it would all be over. Just as she thought that a sharp metal came and sliced her side. She let out a yelp as she pressed her fired up hand on her wound, healing her before she noticed quicksand was holding her in place. Clara looked up as she noticed Apocalypse had stopped moving and had his hand out as the quicksand moved around her, hissing like rattlesnakes.

"You fight well, my daughter" Apocalypse complimented, "I should've recruited you instead of Angel. Maybe it is not too late for you after all"

Clara formed her mouth in disgust as she spit out to the dirt in front of him. The motion angered him as she sent a line of fire to his body once more. It only consumed him for a couple of seconds before she felt pain in her feet. Clara let out a yelp as she looked down and noticed the sand was working it's way into her boots and pushing into her skin. Clara set her own body on fire but it was no use as Apocalypse's power was overriding her self healing power, making her scream out in agony to the skies above, begging him to stop.

"You are feeble" Apocalypse said.

"Go to hell!"

Apocalypse yelled out once more, "Charles! Come! Rescue your weaklings! Give your life for theirs"

"Don't do it!" Clara screamed out from her pain.

Apocalypse turned to her and waved his hand as she screamed at the pain travelling up to her ankles. She couldn't concentrate anymore as her body appeared lost from her flames. She reached down to her ankles as if her own two hands could break the spell Apocalypse had them under.

"You had heart" Apocalypse told her, "It's a pity you have a mind like a child's. Charles! Watch me make a living statue out of this firebender! Will you do nothing?"

Clara shuddered as she badgered on, "You're the child, collecting powers and life as if they were toys, you're no god, you're a leech!"

The pain traveled up to her knees, making Clara scream out as her body went erect. She could feel her body slowing down to a stop. Tears fell down her face as she sobbed from the pain. For once, fear went into her as she wanted someone to help her but knew that if the others came, they would risk having Charles being exposed.

Apocalypse spat, "You're all beneath me"

Clara shook her head, "Then why do you constantly need to feed off of all of us in order to survive"

She swallowed as she felt her mind become dizzy from all the pain she was experiencing. Clara almost felt delirious and wondered if she was going to pass out and wake up in a casket of rocks. She looked up as her vision blurred, watching the man slowly walk up to her. Clara swallowed as the first time she felt like she could taste blood in the back of her mouth. Clara shuddered as she placed her hands on her thighs to keep from falling over.

Apocalypse's eyes went white as he lifted up his hand in her direction. She grimaced and waited to experience pain before she realized none came. Clara turned her head to the side to see the building behind her drifted away the second building wall to reveal the rest of the X-men. Clara let out a groan as she strained to have her fire come back to her hands, mentally telling herself to not lose consciousness yet.

He turned his attention to her and only smirked as he slowly made his way up to her. Clara didn't have the energy to throw her fire but once he was close enough, she threw out her hand to punch him but even that was too much work as her fire died out. She wished that she had connected, but it didn't as the ancient mutant reached out and grabbed onto her neck. One hand was on the back of her head and the other was over her chin as her eyes went wide at the positions. She knew fully well that her life was going to be over in a matter of seconds.

Before he could move his hands to break her neck, something fell to the left of Clara, making her yelp. They both turned and looked as a metal bar was right next to her. Another thud made her turn to the right before Apocalypse lost his train of thought and the pain and paralysis escaped her legs, making Clara fall to the ground. She quickly summoned fire to her legs as the pain melted away, bringing in a sense of euphoric pleasure into her brain. Clara glanced up to her savior as Erik floated down closer to Apocalypse who stood now a few paces away from him.

He said, "You betray me?"

"No" Erik said as he nodded over to the group, "I betrayed them"

Erik looked behind Apocalypse and locked eyes with Clara, giving her a small nod.

Clara knew what he was thinking as she sprang up to her feet as metal floated up around them. She growled as she summoned up fire that nearly reached her elbows, ready when Erik was.

Together, they shot out their fire and metal at the same time to Apocalypse as he stood in the middle. She could tell that he had his forcefield up as she continued to work on sending more heat in. Clara could hear him snarling at them in frustration but now that Erik was helping them, she didn't feel as terrified as before, a blue form went down next to her as Beast appeared at her side.

"Apocalypse is moving closer to Raven and Peter"

"Get them out of there!"

"Whatever you do, don't stop!" Hank told her, "Keep working on him"

Clara gave off a nod as she waved out her arms as far as the could go. She watches as her flames moved around Apocalypse and burned into the metal of Erik's. Her fire was so hot that it burned and molded the metal bars into spikes that Erik created to try and shatter his shield. Clara strained but she kept her aim focused on the metal far away from Hank as he worked to rescue the others.

"Come on!" Clara muttered.

A bright red ruby light came from the right as Clara turned and saw Scott had appeared on the side of Apocalypse, far away from Hank as he tried to break Peter free. The force of his blast sent Apocalypse hobbling sideways as he stumbled from losing his balance. A flicker of hope went through her before she realized that his forcefield never died down. Clara groaned but still held onto her power and let out a yell. Eventually, the three could overpower him somehow.

Clara groaned slightly as she felt a headache dull into the back of her head. She tried her best not to notice it as she focused her fire away from Hank and the others.

Finally, she noticed he broke Peter free as he grabbed onto the man and moved them quickly away from the ancient mutant. Clara let out a scream as she moved her fire back to centering the mutant. Her elbows buckled into her sides as sweat started to form on her brow.

"Come on" Clara strained, "Give up already you bastard! Just die!"