u/HoundingHerself

(OOC notes: This is in a secluded location, nobody knows what is occurring here. Ignore Akihiro in the background of the image, he’s not important. Tildes are used to denote telepathic speech. Bolded lines belong to Hope, while nonbolded are Rachel. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the show.)

~RACHEL~

Hearing the psychic summons of her sister/niece (the Summers family is weird, she doesn’t stress about it), Rachel immediately headed to the X-Mansion.

~Give me the scoop, what’s going on?~

~This is a “you’ve got to see it” type thing. Sage called me for help and now I’m calling you.~

So it’s a Phoenix thing. Those were always fun. With Jean missing, it fell on Rachel to be the primary Phoenix, with Hope also wielding its power due to her unique circumstances. The two of them had never been particularly close, but that was more of a circumstance of chance than anything else, the universe did everything it could to keep the Summers family apart. But when the chips were down, she showed up.

Like right now. As she descended onto the mansion grounds, she started scanning for where she should meet Hope when a sudden fiery flare was released above a seemingly abandoned building. 

~Show off~

~It worked, didn’t it?~

~Whatever, so what’s…~ 

Oh, oh my– I see why you needed me to see this.

In front of the Summers girls was Forge sitting over a pile of diamonds. Not just any diamonds, but the shattered diamond form of one Emma Grace Frost.

So Forge is here putting together a puzzle, and that's going to… bring her back? 

No, that’s what we’re for. He’s going to get the pieces together and in order, and then we get Emma back together and into the pieces.

Not the weirdest thing I’ve ever done, and I guess this counts as sibling bonding time.

Let’s do it then I guess. No time to waste.

At Forge’s word, the two girls joined forces, letting the Phoenix Force flow through them, around and around, being amplified at each turn by Hope’s abilities and Rachel’s intrinsic connection. Tongues of fire lapped against the diamonds as the individual molecules were fused together telekinetically. Rachel reached out to feel for the soul of Emma Frost and to her surprise, found it resting in the fragments in front of her. As the fractures shrank, she made a connection with the spirit, and issued a command through the mouths of both redheads, with all the authority that the Phoenix Force, Life and Death Incarnate, The-End-Of-All-That-Is, the Cosmic Firebird, held.

~WAKE UP EMMA~

~TESSA NEEDS YOU~

Their efforts would take days, fusing together the diamonds that made up her body and restoring her soul was not a simple process, even with a loved one to ground them. Hope and Rachel would let the Phoenix Force flow through the circuit that they made and through Emma, while Forge stood guard over the whole process. Only a few more days until the White Queen would be returned to her rightful place in the land of the living, and if all went according to plan, then nobody not currently involved would have to know.

Last time Rachel was at the mansion, things were different.

Her mother was here, Nathan was here (although he came and went as usual), even Maddy and Alex were around. It felt nice to be with her family after they got pulled apart time and again. Even if things were more chaotic, it still felt like home. Now though? Now, things were neater, more orderly, lines in the sand had been drawn. People had their own cliques, and she was left out of it. The mansion had moved on without her. Not a single rescue attempt was launched, nobody spoke of her.

She wandered the grounds with a stray warwolf puppy she had taken in on her journey, looking for anything that reminded her of home. Betsy was here, but she was recovering from her own imprisonment. Kitty was around of course, although her and Illyana had found comfort with each other. There was no sign of Nathan, and people seemed to be more interested in information about him than they were in her return. Kurt had been in and out a few times, and right now seemed to be an out.

Luckily though, her dad stopped by, and she got to feel almost like a regular kid, like a daughter returning from college and seeing her parents again. Some things would change with the seasons, but Scott never would. The Scott she saw in front of her and made plans to get lunch with was the same Scott who she knew before Stryfe kidnapped her and the same Scott who she knew throughout time and timelines, and all of them, deep down, had the same father’s love.

The mansion may have changed, the world may have changed, and life may have changed, but the Summers family never did. They kept on moving because that’s what they had to do. Perhaps then, it was time for a Phoenix to rise from the ashes.

After far too long, I have escaped my Brot–… my Half-Bro–… Stryfe’s captivity. I have felt echos of others connected to the Phoenix Force, but as of now, it seems I remain the sole host in action, and so I will do my best to live up to my mother’s reputation.