A/N: don't own done sue

Lyrics are from 'Clarity' by Zedd & Foxes

Clarity

Chapter One

High dive into frozen waves where the past comes back to life
Fight fear for the selfish pain, it was worth it every time
Hold still right before we crash 'cause we both know how this ends
A clock ticks 'til it breaks your glass and I drown in you again
'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need
Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why
If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?
If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?
Walk on through a red parade and refuse to make amends
It cuts deep through our ground and makes us forget all common sense
Don't speak as I try to leave 'cause we both know what we'll choose
If you pull then I'll push too deep and I'll fall right back to you
'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need
Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why
If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy?
If our love's insanity, why are you my clarity?

The last few employees were trickling out of the building, hurrying through the big glass doors fronting the monolithic skyscraper. They huddled in a group for a moment, exchanging goodbyes and joking about the crappy hours. A gust of bitter wind tugged at their coats, lifting a woman's hair and snatching at a man's loose tie until it flapped up into his face. Two of them split from the other four and set off at a brisk pace towards the bus stop around the corner, the others scurried towards the underground parking lot reserved for staff. After a few moments of eerie stillness, where only the faint sounds of traffic and the distant wail of a car alarm stirred, the electric gate swung open with an unhealthy clanking noise and four cars climbed unsteadily up the steep inclining drive. Eden counted the four employees as the vehicles made their trundling procession along the curving drive and out onto the street. Horns hooted goodbye, cracking loudly through the still night air.

The stillness spread like a cloud over the empty building, blanketing the whole street. She waited for at least another hour, her butt numb from sitting on the cold concrete roof and her shoulders aching from being hunched over. She counted minutes, waiting for the tell-tale glimmer of the security guard's flashlight passing by the windows. When he reached the thirty-third floor, she got to her feet, ignoring her protesting joints. She swung her black canvas backpack onto her shoulders over her black sweater, climbing over the edge of the roof and using the rusted old ladder to clamber her way down the side of the building. The ladder reached the fourth floor and, as she scrambled through the window, she glanced over her shoulder at the skyscraper. The flashlight was swinging along the fortieth floor. Her boots sent up puffs of dust as she crossed the carpeted floor of the abandoned apartment. The front door hung from its hinges, graffiti sprayed in a wild arc splashing onto the wooden floor of the hallway in a shocking blast of colour.

Eden knew she had four minutes to get out of this apartment block, across the street and into the office building. By then the security guard, Tucker if she had the schedule down right, would be on the top floor checking out the big boss's office and adjoining boardroom. Eden counted seconds in her head as she flew down the stairs of the building, her boots barely touching the creaking wooden steps. As she approached the padlocked and bolted front door, she narrowed her gaze and sent a bolt of awareness out towards the door. Her gaze flickered and, even though she felt her feet thumping on the wooden stairs and the current of dusty air brushing past her cheeks, everything seemed to slow around her. The door glimmered electric blue, every chip of wood visible to her. She ignored the door and concentrated on the locks. She convinced the screws holding the bolt in place to release, carefully separating them from the rusted plate as if she were peeling petals apart. They hadn't even plunked to the ground when she switched her focus to the padlock. This took more concentration and she narrowed her focus a little, losing her awareness of the dank hallway around her even more. She identified the tiny metal cogs inside the padlock, wheedling out the ones that kept it locked. She convinced them to loosen, prying them apart and coaxing them into separating.

The padlock clunked onto the porch a micro-second before she burst through the door and she grinned, swiping sweat from her forehead. She glanced at her watch. The whole thing had taken forty-six seconds. Not bad, not really good though. She forced herself to walk casually across the road in case anyone was looking. She'd broken the streetlights down here a few nights ago and, in her black trousers and black hooded sweater, she was almost invisible. The flashlight was bobbing high above her. She broke into a run again as soon as she was out of sight of the street, heading for the maintenance entrance.

The plain hallway was lit by a pale green glow from the Exit sign above the door. She squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment, picturing the layout of the building. She looked at her watch. She had two minutes and thirty three seconds left. She broke into a sprint, flying down the hallway and swinging around the corner. Keeping track of the doorways blurring on either side of her, she skidded to a halt outside an ordinary looking door. She took a deep steadying breath, then focused her awareness on the door. Like peeling back the layers of an onion, she pushed aside the image of the door and studied the various locks on the other side. They were complicated locks, more difficult than the simple bolts and padlock she'd already dealt with.

She forced herself to ignore time trickling rapidly away from her, working each of the locks until they gave. Sweat prickled under her hairline and along the back of her neck, her heart pounded and her head started to swim. The last lock gave with a tiny creak and she let out her breath in a whoosh, pushing open the door and crossing into the room. She searched the tiny square doors lining the entire opposite wall. She knew as soon as she opened one the alarms would be triggered and Tucker would be on his way down. Her watch said she still had ninety seconds before Tucker finished his rounds and headed down on his own. A ninety second head start.

The priceless items were protected in the huge state-of-the-art vault in the basement beneath her feet. Not what she was after today, as interesting as it would be to root around in there and unearth some secrets. There was a smaller room which housed less destructive less valuable secrets, she just wasn't sure which one it was. She glanced at her watch. She'd given herself time to search each room in her plan but now she was worried it would take too long. She expanded out her focus, drawing on the last of her energy. She skimmed lightly over the surface of each room, stretching as far as she dared. There were three possible candidates and she plumped for the closest one first. She giggled despite herself when she realised she'd managed to strike it lucky first time out. None of the safety deposit boxes were numbered and she hurriedly counted, searching for the box her client had specified.

It was child's play to unlock the box, she could have done it with her lock picks but the clock was ticking. She nudged open the door with a gloved hand, retrieved the file and locked the box back up. She tucked the file into the back of her jeans, pulling the hem of her sweater down to cover it. She could feel the cool paper through the thin vest top she was wearing as if it were pressed directly against her skin as she carefully closed the door and convinced it to re-lock itself.

"Okay, kid. Here's your fee and your cut."

Eden accepted the notes without counting them, folding them up and tucking them into the back pocket of her jean shorts.

"And this… is a little something for your birthday."

If she didn't know any better, Eden would almost have thought that the big hulking man mountain was blushing. She took the roll of notes and palmed them into her front pocket, leaning over the bulky wooden counter and grazing her lips against his grizzled cheek.

"Thank you, Sampson." She trilled sweetly.

He was definitely blushing, his weathered cheeks flushing darkly beneath the grime and stubble. She grinned. She'd known Sampson since she was a kid; her father had refused to deal with any other middle man as the go-between for his jobs and neither would she. Sampson seemed like a slightly batty old man well past his prime, but he knew everyone in the criminal underground game and he still had a few less than savoury connections should you need them.

The door tinkled and a short fat man ambled into the store whistling loudly. He leered with a wide yellow-toothed grin as he saw her leaning one hip against the counter, eyeing her chest in her white top and daisy-patterned fringed vest, the tiniest peek of bare flat navel and her long bare legs right down to her dusty heeled boots.

"You be careful now." Sampson grunted, patting her hand where it still lay on the countertop.

"Always." She shot back with a wink, sliding her huge mirrored sunglasses over her eyes.

She moved around the still leering fat man and stepped out into the hot street. She wandered down the street, enjoying the sunlight and the heat and having a few careless free hours to kill. She was studying a ridiculously expensive dress it would be far more fun to steal than purchase in a store window when her senses started to prickle. She'd had the feeling someone was watching her for the last few days, assuming it was the police she hadn't looked too carefully and always managed to give whoever it was the slip but now she was annoyed. The heat had strung out her very last nerve. She used the cover of her glasses to search the glass window for her pursuer. It didn't take long to spot him, leaning casually against a streetlight and pretending to read a newspaper. She couldn't really see him, just the broad slope of his wide shoulders under his black sweater and the slender grace of his hips and long legs. Who wore black in this heat? Vain idiot. He didn't look like a cop though. He looked like trouble.

She sidled into the store keeping one eye on the man across the street; he made no move to follow her but his head tilted slightly at the sound of the door chime. She begged the girl behind the counter for the key to the bathroom claiming lady problems, making sure she passed the window as she pretended to peruse the gaudy dresses on display, then side-stepping out of the back door into the alley behind the store. She waited for over an hour, out of boredom using her mutation to pull apart then rebuild a half broken stone wall, until she was sure he must have given up waiting for her. She circled around the side of the building and re-joined the throng of people bustling up and down the street. She was just in time to see her stalker moving away against the press of people, crossing the street and stepping onto one of the paths that led away from the busy centre towards the residential areas. Making a split second decision she would come to regret with every fibre of her being, she followed him. He turned down a side street and she decided enough was enough. She took off as soon as she hit the corner of the street, streaking after him and tackling him before he even turned around. That was the plan anyway, unfortunately he was ridiculously quick and she was lunging at him with her hands outstretched like a lunatic when he whirled around towards her. Eden's forward momentum crashed them into each other and they hit the ground with a painful crunch, stars bursting before her eyes. Fortunately, he broke most of her fall. After a dazed moment of confusion, they grappled awkwardly. She was too startled to think of using her mutation, her first reflex was to fight with her bare hands. She was very skilled at hand to hand combat but his grip on her wrists was like iron and his feet had locked around her ankles. He didn't wriggle beneath her, even though she was squirming like crazy on top of him trying to get out of his grip. He merely stared up at her, amusement flickering in his eyes and his lips twisting into a smirk. He let go only when she stopped struggling. She scrambled to her feet and he was back on his with alarming speed. He reached out to grab her elbow and her reflexes kicked in. She grabbed his wrist, yanked his arm around and stuffed him face first against the wall.

"Who are you?" She demanded, using her hip in the small of his back to anchor him in place even though he wasn't struggling.

In fact, it actually sounded like he gave a muffled laugh and Eden felt the tiny hairs along her body stand on end. She felt a hand touch her back and she froze. Whoever was behind her spoke so softly, she had to struggle over the pounding of her heart in her ears to hear.

"Please release him."

She let go of his arm and took a small step back. He turned away from the wall and scowled, blood dribbling down his cheek where she'd forced it against the cement wall. She backed away and the stranger behind her moved to give her space. The two men shared a look as they moved to stand besides one another and she studied them warily. The one she'd grabbed had dark wavy hair tinted red in the sunlight, his brilliant silver-blue eyes stared back at her impassively. He exuded danger and mystery and she hurriedly looked away. The other guy seemed the nicer of the pair. He was smiling gently, his floppy dark hair tipping over his forehead and his sky-blue eyes peering at her enquiringly. He lifted one hand towards his head and she held up her own hands in warning. He frowned and dropped his hand to his side, exchanging another silent look with his partner. She had the oddest feeling that they could talk to each other that way and it did nothing to allay her fears.

"Why are you following me?" She demanded.

They looked at each other again. That was getting very old, very quickly. She reached up to push golden-blonde strands from her eyes; the mad dash, subsequent fall and ungraceful struggle had tugged her hair out of its loose French braid and it snaked wildly over her shoulders and face. Her fingers came away bloody and she jumped in surprise.

"I'm Charles Xavier. Erik Lehnsherr." The man with kind eyes said quietly, indicating himself and then the one she'd rugby-tackled.

She stared back at them, not bothering to offer her name. They looked at her patiently. She could feel something emanating from the two of them, swelling over her like a lazy wind. She had the distinct impression that these two were more than just stalkers.

"Leave me alone." She snapped as fiercely as she could, glowering at the two of them.

"We're not going to hurt you." Charles said carefully, opening his hands in a supplicating gesture she promptly ignored.

"No, because you're going to vanish from my life." Eden retorted.

"We don't want to hurt you." Charles repeated and his soft blue eyes flickered over the scrapes up and down her bare legs and the gash still bleeding steadily into her hair with some regret. Although, to be fair to them, she had caused those herself when she'd flung herself at Erik. She glanced at him, standing silently a step behind Charles, a smirk dancing around the edges of his mouth. "We know who you are."

"And I'm thrilled for you." Eden interrupted. "Of course, anyone with a phonebook could 'know who I am'." She pointed out, using her fingers to sketch quotation marks in the air.

Erik looked amused again and Charles gnawed on his lower lip thoughtfully. After a moment of silence, Charles gave Erik a beseeching look and Erik moved his shoulder in a small half-shrug, giving a quite implacable look in return. Charles sighed.

I know what you can do.

Eden blinked, squinting at Charles suspiciously. He was smiling at her encouragingly.

You're different, special. So are we.

Eden looked from Charles to Erik doubtfully.

"So what?" She challenged. "What, are we going to hold hands and sing kumbaya?"

Erik made a stifled sound that he quickly turned into a tiny cough when Charles glared at him. Charles took a breath and started on what sounded like a pretty rehearsed speech. Eden vaguely listened, distracted by the way Erik loomed.

"What exactly do you want me for?" Eden cut across him sceptically, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back against the wall.

Charles and Erik exchanged looks, silently communicating. Erik's wicked blue eyes flickered over her, the corners of his lips twitching and she glowered. He'd remained largely silent throughout Charles's speech, looming and emanating power and mystery. He made her skin tingle, and not entirely unpleasantly either.

"I'm a thief."

Charles stuttered to a stop mid-speech, pursing his lips closed and running a hand back through his wavy hair. He cocked his head.

"You're a healer."

"I dropped out of med school." Eden reminded him.

That doesn't change your ability.

She jerked as if she'd been zapped, glaring at Charles.

"Stop that."

"My apologies." He didn't sound sorry in the least. "Your ability is unique, the different situations it could be applied to…" Charles looked at her wonderingly and she shifted uncomfortably. "We're very interested in-"

"I have no intentions of being a lab rat." Eden interrupted testily.

We would never—

"I told you to stop that."

Erik touched Charles's shoulder and Charles blinked sheepishly. Eden had the feeling that when his emotions were charged, Charles automatically slipped into his telepathy without realising.

"We don't experiment on people." It was the first time Erik had spoken and his gravelly, slightly accented, voice made the hair on her arms tingle again. His eyes were gleaming darkly and his mouth was an ugly thin line all of a sudden.

"You're curious about me, I can understand that." She looked at them both from under her lashes. "And I'm flattered. Also… not interested. Sorry boys."

She pushed away from the wall.

"We can help you." Charles said suddenly.

"I don't need help." Eden walked around them without taking her eyes from them. "I know who I am, I know what I am and I know what I can do."

Charles was still formulating his reply when she broke into a sprint, streaking out of the alley like a bat out of hell. She knew that running from a telepath was generally a pointless exercise but it made her feel better. When she had put a lot of distance between them, she slowed down to ease the burning pain in her chest. She'd crossed out of the main streets and into the old railyard bordering the fringes of town. Her apartment was on the other side of the old lot in the more ramshackle part of town and she crossed this way every day with no trouble. Maybe it was the residual shock from her encounter but her skin was prickling and her senses were twitching as she crunched across the stones. There were usually a few homeless characters around that she knew by sight, enough to nod at as they passed in and out of each other's lives but there was no one in sight. Eden fought the urge to glance over her shoulder as she heard the ghost of footsteps behind her. She struggled to keep her pace even as her heart began to pound again. When you spend your life as a criminal, raised by criminals, loved by criminals, taught by criminals, you had an instinct about these things and she knew without a shadow of a doubt, that someone was following her. And their intentions were not good.

She pondered her options. Her apartment was still almost ten minutes away, town was almost ten minutes behind her, and there was nothing in either direction but the abandoned rail tracks stretching into the distance. Her breathing quickened as fear seeped into her blood like a poison. There was a rusting old-fashioned railcar on the tracks ahead, tilting dangerously on its broken wheels. There was an entrance to the old tunnels half buried underneath it. She'd seen it a few times but it would be a tight squeeze, even if she could reach it before the footsteps made their move. She narrowed her focus, the rusty old car blossoming electric blue. She was deep in focus, prying apart the base of the railcar for a cleaner escape when they made their move. More accurately, it felt like someone had thrown a building at her back. She sprawled forwards, stone and discarded bits of broken glass cutting into her face, hands and bare knees. Taken by surprise, her focus shattered and left her dazed and shaken. She didn't have time to gather her scattered wits before strong hands were dragging her up by the hair.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" She managed to croak out, squinting against the bright sunlight as he bent her neck so far backwards she feared it would snap.

She could just make out the craggy grizzled face of a burly bruiser with dead shark eyes and an ugly scarred mouth and a shorter leaner scumbag behind him scouring the railyard with his beady eyes.

"Where is it?"

She frowned, her brain searching through the various items she'd procured over the years, any of which could be important enough for someone to hunt her down.

"Care to clarify?"

His face creased, his grip on her hair tightened unmercifully and she was blind-sided by a fist. Stars popped before her eyes and burning red pain exploded through her head. He shook her until her head cleared a little.

"Where is it, bitch?"

"I can't tell you, unless I know what you're looking for." She gasped through the red veil of pain.

His brow wrinkled and then his scowl widened. They seemed to think she was playing with them. He tossed her around like a ragdoll, big meaty fists impacting her slender body. She tried to focus herself but every time her vision bloomed blue another punch sent her reeling and it slipped away. In a panic as a particularly nasty blow split her vision, she tried to gather as much energy as she could summon. His body flickered blue, and lit up before her she could see blood pulsing through his veins, activity flashing like fireworks in his brain, his heart thumping above her. She tried to get a grip on his heart but losing her awareness of what was going on to her physically meant each fresh blow kept shaking her grip. Her whole body was starting to feel hot, she could feel blood trickling onto the stones beneath her, a vicious punch had made the graze on her forehead much worse and a thin glaze of sticky red was blocking out her vision. There was nothing left. She had no energy and the pain was too much to regain her focus and use her power against him. It was a hell of a day to die. Still, at least she'd seen Sampson. Met two cute guys. A glimmer of possibility shot through her head and she blinked. Worth a try, right?

HELP! HELP ME!

Something sparked in her brain but she was too far gone to examine it. He had her by the throat, her feet were actually dangling. She'd lost her boots somewhere, they'd always been a little too big. Her vision was blacking out when he let her go and she dropped like a stone. Her body was a messy tangle of limbs yet strangely it wasn't the pain that was most prominent, it was the little stones digging into her body she felt most keenly. It also seemed as if the ground was shaking, but then the sky seemed to be spinning above her so she didn't really trust her perceptions right now.

"Eden? Eden!"

She felt hands on her, soft well-meaning hands. Charles's face blurred as he tilted her face towards him. Her body was agony, her ribs blazing with every difficult painful breath, she wanted to drift away and forget everything but Charles was burrowing into her head, convincing her it would all be okay, asking her to trust him.

"That was quick." She whispered, even her lips were cracked and bruised and sore.

"We were driving this way." Charles said quietly, although something in his gaze flickered.

"You were following me." She was too tired to make it sound like the accusation it was.

Her head rolled away from his intent stare and she glimpsed Erik, locked in battle with her attackers. Although, technically, it was less of a fight and more he was beating the crap out of them with the metal rail that had been yanked out of the ground. She didn't want to know how he'd managed to get that hunk of metal out of the ground where it had been buried for years.

If she'd thought he was intense when he was merely standing there, he was blinding right now. His face was a mask but his eyes were blazing like live coals, his hands outstretched and the muscles flexing in his arms and chest. Charles turned her face away from the fight.

"Can you walk?"

I don't know.

Charles frowned. From her earlier display she clearly didn't enjoy communicating that way, she was weaker than she looked. This caused him a great deal of concern as she looked like she was currently at death's door. Charles glanced at Erik as screams spread over the abandoned lot. Charles gripped Eden under her arms and pulled her to her feet. She whimpered, bit her lip and broke out into a stream of curses. Charles could feel waves of pain radiating from her, blood was smeared all over his shirt and jacket just from helping her up.

"Erik!" He called anxiously. He had no idea of her healing capabilities, whether she could heal this amount of damage quickly enough if she had internal injuries.

Erik took her other arm, relieving some of her weight from Charles's shoulder. She stumbled, her bare feet slipping and sliding on her own blood. Erik swung her into his arms, ignoring Charles's questions about her attackers.

Eden was vaguely aware of their voices piercing the haze of pain swirling in her brain. She must have dropped out of consciousness for a while, because when she woke she was in the backseat of a car and the pain from the jolting vehicle was enough to send her under again.