WHO:Emma & Kitty WHEN: May 11th~ WHERE: Emma's patio WHAT: Kitty and Emma discuss Phoenix and the implications. It doesn't end with Kitty conscious. WARNINGS: Creepy Emma Phoenix. STATUS: Complete
Since she and Jean had agreed to carry the Phoenix Force together, Emma was hyper aware of everyone and their minds, secrets were officially a thing of the past, as much as Emma attempted to not pry, it was getting near impossible to keep the noise out of her head.
Chatter wasn’t unusual. Emma was almost always tapped into Jean’s mind, their own private ruminations knocking into each other when they weren’t focused on whatever they were doing, her staff at the office and Victrola almost always having some kind of running commentary going. But Emma tended to try not to listen in.
It was becoming a bit more of a struggle to not consciously pick through the minds of her friends. Like now, trying to not just swim in Kitty’s barrage of memories and thoughts. “I’m sorry, I’ve missed absolutely everything you’ve just said.” Because she was listening to the running commentary of the woman down the street dying her hair.
It was one of the times of year where Kitty’s thoughts were often on the past. February was the worst, but late spring and early summer weren’t that good either. In fact, underneath her constant attempts to keep on the bright side of life, deep down Kitty was angry, bitter, and lonely. Angry at herself and the world, bitter at the x-men and the way her life had gone in all the worlds she dreamed of and the one she was awake in. And constantly lonely. She just usually kept it all buried, and even a talented telepath would have difficulty digging down to it all, let alone finding the guilt at the bottom.
“I said,” Kitty pointed her finger at Emma. “Are you okay? You’re really, really distracted.”
Most of the time, Emma kept a tight lid on her curiosity, it was something she’d learned herself, here in this world, not to pry. But it was so much harder with her powers enhanced so much, and Kitty was just right there.
“I’m fine, just… Distracted, yes.” That was a good way to put it, given all the things that were whirling around. “Kitty, has Jean talked to you about the dreams?”
“Uhm. No more than the usual? Is something up?” Kitty was curious, and suddenly a little worried. Other than the usual comparisons and occasionally sarcastic comment, she didn’t really bring them up. “Is Jean okay?”
“Define ‘okay’,” it was a petty little tease, and Emma was already waving it off before Kitty could answer, “Mostly, yes, she’s… it’s complicated. Obviously, you know about Phoenix, I presume, with the vast dream realities you fall in and out of, you’re aware that Jean’s dreamed about her numerous times.”
It was easy to catch that trend, almost all of Jean’s iterations of dreams had the force stalking her. Perhaps once it would’ve made Emma jealous, of Jean’s obvious power and lure to such a creature. Really, now, it just pissed her off. “We’re syncing up, and … well, Phoenix is persistent.” She was a little hesitant to tell Kitty that they were currently hosting the Phoenix, both of them, together. But maybe Kitty was a good place to start to gauge the reaction. Since she couldn’t keep her memories or thoughts locked up from Emma right then, it seemed prudent to explain why Emma knew so much already.
“Quite a few times,” Kitty admitted. And she knew Emma had been possessed at least twice too. The five of course, and one in a universe where Breakworld had resurrected Jean instead of Piotr. Kitty had been forced to remove Emma’s heart in that split second when Emma had been normal. To be fair, she’d practically begged for it. To be fair, it had been fatal for Kitty too.
She narrowed her eyes. “Oh no, not here. Jean doesn’t deserve that. None of us deserve that!”
“Somewhat.” No one deserved what could come, Jean could hold her own for a while, but too much and that redhead temper, it was Dark Phoenix just waiting to happen. “We’re… well, sharing it.” Emma was sharing almost all of her life with Jean, why not the cosmic force that killed her lover in numerous alterations of her life?
“It’s having some effects, some very serious effects, but we’re handling it.” Although one of those side effects happened to be Emma’s utter lack of control on what she was catching from people. “Our powers are amplified, dear, which I’m sure you can take a guess at what that means.” So far, Emma was good at keeping her cool. Settled and calm, that was the requirement for this. So far.
“You’re… you’re sharing it?” Kitty’s voice was flat. The last time the Phoenix had been shared by anyone everything had gone to hell in a handbasket. Between Jean’s temper and Emma being Emma, she was suddenly just a little worried. But there weren’t many people who could handle it, and the one highest on Kitty’s list was … Well, Rachel was lost in the timestream and might never return and was pretty sure she was the only one who even remembered Rachel had even existed in the OC. And the only reason she remembered was that Rachel had ensured Kitty could come back to the present at her own expense.
“I know you think you’re handling it, but I think I’d feel a lot better if we talked to someone. There are other people here, with other kinds of magics and powers, that might help you contain it.” Controlling the Phoenix was a no go, and even Rachel had eventually lost its power.
Yes, Emma was going through the current situation where she was sharing the power, but she wasn’t sharing the power with Jean there, she was sharing it with Namor and Scott, Ilyana and Piotr. The mess of emotions and egos in that was probably half the problem she was seeing unfolding right there.
“Katherine, could you try to contain your disdain for half a second.” Most of the animosity didn’t seem to be at Emma which was new and interesting all the same, but Emma was part of the Phoenix right now, and she really wasn’t loving the attitude.
“We’re fine. There’s a learning cover, it’s a process, yes. But let’s face it, when has containing the Phoenix ever worked?”
The Phoenix was a concern, and a terrifying one. Piotr influenced by it had all but threatened to rape her and burn the school to the ground. Kitty was worried. “Rachel. For awhile anyway.”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “I just … think it would be better to have a back up plan. At least we don’t have the Avengers fucking things up, which probably contributed to at least half of everything.”
“Rachel,” Emma agreed with an eyebrow raising up, “For awhile.” Even Rachel hadn’t been able to maintain it forever, because that wasn’t the point at all. But Emma and Jean, they could pull each other back, they could maintain a balance, that was the point of Phoenix, balance. Life and death, it was a cycle.
“But that aside right now, I feel the need to point out that you’re practically oozing thoughts and memories, dear. All over the place, just constantly.” It was a little overwhelming honestly, she was just getting wave and wave of memory or thought. And Kitty’s memories seemed to be a whole lot less wholesome than some would believe.
It still wasn’t something that Kitty was fully willing to believe. Even with five people they hadn’t succeeded, though it was probably the five worst people that could have ended up with the Phoenix. “Sorry? I can’t exactly control that and if you’re picking things up maybe you’re not in as much control as you think.”
Maybe poking the Phoenix wasn’t the best idea.
“Maybe if you weren’t repressing so much you’ve give Scott a run for his money you wouldn’t have this problem. My powers are enhanced, I’m perfectly in control, some people just seep.” It likely wasn’t the case, but Emma hadn’t struggled with her powers since she started developing them here. The headaches were a thing of the past, after that first few weeks before her powers settled.
“Okay how dare you compare me to Scott.” Kitty poked Emma in the chest, bristling like a porcupine. “That’s a low blow, I’m not… I’m not…”
Blood dribbled down from her nose, and she brushed at it with her fingers. “...what?”
The poke was potentially the worst idea, Emma’s eyes flashed with the red dancing flames before cooling to her usual ice blue, sculpted eyebrow raising. “You’re so repressed it’s practically choking, how you even get up in the morning is a surprise, the attitude isn’t appreciated Katherine. Expecting me to ask for help when you can’t even do it yourself.”
If she were completely sure of herself, completely in control, Emma would’ve realised that her power was slipping from her own control, that the power she held was already starting to lash out, attaching to those memories in Kitty, those harrowing and shocking memories.
It would take nothing to remove them. Just blink them out, no longer there, take them away from Katherine completely. Emma had to believe she’d be better without them after all.
Maybe little Kitty would be better without any of them.
“I…” Whatever Kitty meant to say was lost to a vast nothingness. A stray tear fell down her cheek, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground. Her mind was silent, her expression empty. It was like Kitty wasn’t there at all.
There. Emma sat silently for a moment, considering things. Kitty could rest and all the noise in her head, they’d be… She’d be better without that. Yes. Phoenix knew that all that suffering wasn’t needed.
There was a tiny pang of consideration, because Emma knew it didn’t work like that. She knew the importance that memories had on people… And this wasn’t how things should be.
Except they were, and that was that. Kitty wouldn’t suffer and there was a modicum of silence right now. Perfect.