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Post by Shalimar Fox on Apr 17, 2009 0:52:10 GMT -7
It's been two years since we lost Emma, to the day. Her room was still as she'd left it. I stood in the doorway, arms wrapped tight around myself as I cried. I was steeling myself for going inside. The photo album I'd looked through the night we lost her, and thought we'd lost Adam was still on her bed. I walked to it, smiling sadly as I ran my fingers over it's cover. "God I miss you, Emma. It's not fair." I slumped to the floor, my back against her bed as I reached up and pulled the photo album to me.
Tears streaked my cheeks as I flipped through the pages. Images of Jesse, Adam, Brennan, me, and Emma, alone or in groups looked back at me from each page. I ran my hand over those of Emma. She was so sweet, so caring. She'd meant more to this team than she'll ever know. "It's been two years. I should be dealing with this better. But since Adam came back, well, it's not the same without you here." I hoped that wherever her spirit was, she could hear me. I would have died that night to save her.
"It should have been me. It was my father's company. I should have died in the explosion & collapse. Not you, Emma." I wiped a stream of tears from my cheek, alternating between frowning and smiling at some of the pictures before me. I sighed shutting the book, holding in on my lap as if it were my last lifeline to Emma. I laid my head back against the side of the bed, closed my eyes, and remembered everything I could about Emma. Her smile, the way she laughed, her skating around Sanctuary. I could almost feel her here, beside me, my memories were so vivid.
If there was anyway, any power in the universe that could bring Emma back, I wished it would. Couldn't the fates, or whatever ruled our destiny's see that Emma was important? Not just to us, but to the world. She was strong, so strong. She'd finally come into her own after joining us, she'd blossomed into a beautiful woman. She became like a sister to us, like a daughter to Adam. She was one of our best friends. And now she was gone. It hurt. At least Brennan and Jesse let me have this time alone to mourn for our lost friend. Even with Lexa, it wasn't the same. And it never would be, not without Emma.
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Post by Jean Grey on Apr 17, 2009 1:28:08 GMT -7
Being alive again, this round, I feel so free. Scott's moved on with Emma, as he should, so I'm not even bound in vows... I truly have the chance to be my own woman... for awhile. The Phoenix Force hasn't even struggled to get free, laying dormant inside of me, no reason to flare. Or... so I thought... One minute I'm laughing it up with Storm as we sit in her garden, getting back in touch with things I'd missed, and the next, my body erupts in flame and I'm whisked away from it all before I can even register what's going on. The Phoenix Force takes over my body with ease, dressing with the green colors, to let me know it's not a bad thing. As Storm's garden disappears, I look through my own eyes, not in control, at a new place, I've never seen before. Very modern, and it seems to be a bedroom, a blond woman sitting on the floor, tears showing her sadness, a sadness I feel acutely, a sadness that seems to have brought the Phoenix here without my knowledge. The flames die down quickly, the Phoenix not wanting to scare this girl, and she reaches out with my own hand,
[glow=red,2,300]You're sorrow is great. You cared for her so much?[/glow] Ever trying to understand the deepest of human emotion, I now see why she brought us here. Shalimar (being a telepath, names are known to us) is grieving so much, the Phoenix must have felt her, and wanted to investigate this. I just hope she stays good... negative emotions have a tendency to bring out the Darkness in us. The Phoenix seems to weigh Shalimar's words carefully, tilting her head to the side a bit as she struggles to understand human emotion.
[glow=red,2,300]And if I brought her back, would you still love her this much? Would you take a blessing from the Phoenix?[/glow] I can hardly believe what I'm hearing... bringing another person back is not something the Phoenix Force does for everyone... I mean, I can feel Shalimar's emotions, and I know the potency of them are what interests her the most. But the offer, is she being cruel now? Is she trying to invoke more emotion just to feel it? Or will she actually bring another Mutant back to life? Being alive on Earth, our personal link is not as intimate as it should be, I feel what is being felt, but I don't know her intension, and it makes me just a bit uncomfortable.
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Post by Shalimar Fox on Apr 17, 2009 1:43:58 GMT -7
One moment I'm sitting in Emma's old bedroom, mourning our loss of her in our lives, remembering all I could about her in my grief. The next moment a burst of flame in the shape of a woman/bird appears in the room. My feral instincts shoot through the roof, the presence of fire alerting me to danger. I'm on my feet in seconds and leapt up and back, to keep the bed between us. My eyes shone orange-yellow as I crouched there, as far from the fire as I could get in the room. I began to feel very claustrophobic on top of it all, not being able to reach the door without going through the fire. And as a feral, that was something I couldn't do. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" The fire died as quickly as it came, and in it's place stood a red-haired woman that seemed familar, and totally alien at the same time.
This can't be possible. No one can just waltz in Sanctuary. No alarms were going off, so that meant she hadn't broken in, but somehow bypassed our security codes. The fire alarm wasn't triggered either. As her hand rose, I stepped forward, moving around the bed to be near her, to take her hand. Without the fire, I wasn't afraid. She felt...I don't know how to explain it, but the power coming off this woman was a comfort, not a threat. It was...supreme. "I...yes. Yes, I do. I loved Emma. She was family." When I sensed danger, my first instinct was to protect my family, to fight, and fight to the death. There was nothing to fight when Emma died, no one to blame that hadn't already been punished. No one but Eckhart, and in the end, he got what he deserved.
I blinked, confused by her words, and wondering why Jesse and Brennan hadn't come busting in to see who the intruder was. My guess was that they had no clue she was here, and wouldn't unless Jesse scanned the room. He had no reason to, he knew I was in here, that I wanted a moment to myself with Emma's things. It was something I did often, so that I'd never forget her. I was shocked at the woman's words. "Of course!" Did she not understand love? "Why wouldn't I still love her? My God, it's EMMA! Anyone who knew her couldn't not love her. She's...she was special." I was crying again, and I sniffed while I wiped away a few of the tears. "You mean, you can do that? You can bring her back, and it would be Emma?" She meant it, this being was an answer to my unspoken prayers. "Yes, yes, please. Bring her back to us. Whatever it takes, whatever I have to sacrifice I will." Nothing was ever given so freely, and though she called it a blessing, I couldn't believe I wouldn't have to give something in return. And I would, I would give anything to have Emma with us again, even my own life.
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Post by Brennan Mulwray on Apr 17, 2009 1:57:57 GMT -7
Most would call me strong. Not as in strength, although I can hold my own and I'm not weak, but emotional as well. When Emma died, losing her tore us all apart. We were a family, a team, and now, she was gone. No laughter or sparkling eyes of the one I looked at as a sister, and often, I cried. Mostly with Shal but I did. Hell, Shal was the reason why I stayed after threatening to leave. I did end up leaving, but yea, I returned. Long story there. Still, it wasn't the same without Emma, and often Shal would go into her room, and we would give her space. After lunch, I had tried searching for her, locating Jesse at the computers. "Hey Jesse, seen Shal around?" I cared allot for Shal, I really did. She was wild, sexy, beautiful, feral. But she wasn't too slutty or anything. Her balance between human and feral amazed me. And enthralled me. When he told me she was in the room, I nodded, expecting half as much.
Turning around, Jesse had checked out and muttered a few words of caution. "What?" Rushing to his side, fearing for Shal, I stared at the screen. "Lets go." Running towards Emma's room, I knew where it was, I would always know where it was. Jesse's feet behind me indicated we were running in tandem, my own internal alarms were rapid firing. Bursting into the room, I held my hands together, electricity charged and flickered between each palm. "Who are you?" How this woman entered Sanctuary was on my high list of knowing. She bypassed security measures, without even raising the alarm! "Sacrifice? Sacrifice for what?" Jesse, more calmer then I was since he obviously assessed the situation before I did, looked from Shal to the woman with red hair. I suddenly clicked. Cutting off the electric power, my hands lowered to my sides as I walked over to Shalimar.
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Post by Jean Grey on Apr 17, 2009 2:43:15 GMT -7
Shalimar actually says the magickal word, Sacrifice, but I feel the Phoenix is judging her emotions more than weighing anything of value to be taken in this. Two guys come in, and I feel their sense of danger, for Shalimar, and so does the Phoenix, she looks them all over, standing together as a family, and reads them in silence a moment, as if making up her mind.
[glow=red,2,300]Brennan, Jesse, You love Emma too?[/glow] She calls them by name, not even trying to cover any levels of power here. So much for being human... or Mutant... whatever. The three of them, faced with the Phoenix talking of bringing Emma back, fills the room with so much emotion, it's intoxicating, and I know the Phoenix is reveling in it. At this point, I'm more than sure she's going to bring Emma back, all her questioning wasn't to play mind games with strangers, it was to be sure that their level of emotion was true. She once brought Esme back, to have Quintin demonstrate the emotion of love for her. Had Esme loved Quintin in return, she could have lived just for that alone. But Esme didn't love Quintin at all, and choose to go back to Death instead. This love is different, this is the love of a family, not the love of a life-partner. And The Phoenix is intrigued. She nods her head to show she understands them all.
[glow=red,2,300]Your grief is your sacrifice, and your love is payment. If your love fails, this will not be a blessing, but a curse.[/glow] With that, she throws my arms out, and the raptor cry fills the small room as she uses Telekinesis to generate Emma's body. Molecule by molecule she rebuilds Emma. First the bones, and then the organs, muscle, and then skin. In moments the work is complete, and Emma's body is suspended before us all in a fiery shield of Phoenix Power. This is exactly what it was like for me, the first time I met the Phoenix. Piloting the spaceship, my body had been damaged by radiation. I was dead, but my brain was too determined to admit it. The Phoenix had come, and built a body, mine, atom by molecule a copy so complete it carried pieces of my Psyche before ever being animated by the Phoenix Force herself. Of course, my real body was then placed in suspended animation, in the Jamaican Bay, to heal from the damages, and the Phoenix trotted along in the copy, so perfect, even DNA scans would say it was me. Emma's body complete, the Phoenix used her cosmic powers to bring her back, the real Emma, not some copy, or slight of Cosmic awareness. I don't envy Emma's confusion, being ripped from life to death and back again is something I'm very experienced with by now, and it always hurts.
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Post by Shalimar Fox on Apr 18, 2009 0:03:30 GMT -7
I couldn't take my eyes off the woman, even when Jesse and Brennan came rushing in. "Don't." I said softly, holding a hand up to them. Brennan cut off his electricity, and I was thankful. She wasn't a threat, I'd know if she was. I didn't know why she was here, or how she'd gotten in, but that didn't matter now. What mattered was that she could bring Emma back. I believed in her, I knew she had the power to do it, and I prayed she would. I finally tore my eyes from her to look briefly at Jesse. "For Emma." It was all I needed to say. We all loved her, and always would, no matter what.
I was enraptured by this woman, her sheer presence was intoxicating. "We will not fail Emma. Our love for her is pure. I know you sense this as truth." I covered my ears as a piercing cry echoed through the room. My mouth was open though I didn't scream. Feral hearing is a bitch at times. I chanced a look at what was happening, having felt another presence in the room. A familiar presence. What I saw would have amazed even Adam. Emma's form was being reknit before our very eyes. From the inside out, she was being remade, recreated. How this was possible I didn't know, I didn't even care. I was thankful beyond words to the red-haired stranger that seemed so familiar. She had given us a gift beyond measure.
It took mere seconds, and the woman seemed unphased, the magick or whatever she used to bring Emma back hadn't taken anything out of her. "Emma?" I stepped forward, biting back my primal fear of the fire that seemed to encase her. I wanted to hold her, but with the fire in my way, I couldn't even touch her. Tears welled in my eyes again as I reached for Emma. The mystical fire turned in on itself, disappearing. I knew somehow that it had gone back into the woman who'd come to grant us this gift. Emma's body slowly lowered, and I caught her up when she came within reach. She slumped, limp in my arms, asleep, but alive. Her brow was furrowed, pain or confusion, or both. But it was Emma, she felt like Emma, smelled like Emma, and I did not doubt for a second it was her. Whole, new, and back with us.
I stroked her hair, cradling her to me like a child, rocking back & forth, my tears falling on her even as I wiped them gently from her skin. I looked up at Jesse & Brennan, smiling through the tears. "It's her, it's Emma. She's brought her back." I leaned down, placing a kiss on Emma's forehead. "Wake up Emma, you're home. We missed you so much." I held her like she was my lifeline and gazed up to the red-haired woman. "Thank you, whoever you are, thank you." I wanted answers, I had so many questions. Who was she? Where had she come from? She was like us, a mutant, but somehow....not. She was more. Why had she come here? What brought her to us? Though I wanted to fling a barrage of questions at her, I couldn't seem to bring them to the forefront, all I could do was look at her with pure awe and heartfelt gratitude.
If there was anything, any small favor I could do to repay her kindness, to give her something as a token of deepest appreciation, I would gladly do so. A gold chain, with a golden cat charm hung around my neck. It was a gift from Emma, years ago. I slipped it over my head and offered it to the woman. "Please, take this. As thanks. It's nothing, really, but it's special to me. It was from her." I looked down at Emma's beautiful face in my arms. A semi-bitter laugh choked up from my throat as I looked once more to the mystical beauty who graced us with this unimaginable gift. "I don't even know your name." She seemed to know us well enough. She'd said something about Phoenix earlier, but I wasn't sure if it was a title, her name, or someone she worked for.
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Post by Emma deLauro on Apr 18, 2009 1:39:31 GMT -7
Energy does not die, it just changes form. That is the way of the universe. For all our emotions, all of our thoughts and feelings, people are basically energy wrapped in a carbon based package, and when we die, that energy moves on. I can't tell you if people go to 'Heaven' or to 'Hell'. I can't tell you if people are reborn into butterflies and live on through multiple lives and forms. What I can tell you, is that being dead, is another state of being, not a complete 'end all'. Without the body, there is no more Ego, and no more 'self', you just ARE... Time doesn't even flow the same way when you're dead. With no sense of 'self', there's no way to judge or describe it. So suddenly gaining a sense of myself, I automatically feel a shock, and lots of confusion. I mean seriously, what the HELL just happened? One moment I'm peaceful and everywhere, and the next I feel...all... complicated again. I can hear Shalimar's voice, telling me to wake up, and suddenly I feel as though I've missed her so much it hurts... but moments before I could have SWORN I couldn't miss her, because I've always been with her... I open my eyes, and I'm flooded with even more confusion, Shalimar's holding me, and I see Brennan and Jesse... and some redhead, and my head POUNDS as it tries to catch up. "What's going on? Shal?" My voice sounds weak, even to my own ears, and suddenly FEELING things, it just... blows my mind. Shalimar's crying, and I can't help crying too.. It's so hard to breath... "I.... I was dead... How?" I cling to Shalimar, still trying to adjust, my eyes darting around the room, my room, taking it all in once again.
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Post by Shalimar Fox on Apr 23, 2009 1:40:03 GMT -7
((I'm going to go ahead and reply, so Jean can take her leave to see Lexa. Also, Brennan/Jesse won't have the net again until next week we assume. This will give Emma & Jean another chance to reply, as well as myself, before Brennan gets back.))
As the woman took the necklace from my hand, tears kept my eyes shining. "Thank you." They were simple words, they meant so much, but seemed so little at this moment. Emma was cradled against me, and for a moment, I thought I'd never be able to let her go. I brushed my tears from her face, smiling sweetly at her. "Oh, Emma. You're home." I whisper as her eyes start to flutter behind her lids, showing her consciousness awakening. Her eyes opened and I gasped in relief. "Shhh. It's ok. Yeah, I've got you. We're all here." I keep brushing my fingers over her hair, wiping her own tears from her cheeks. "You're back Emma. By the grace of God and....and this woman. You're back. We need you Emma, the world needs you."
I reach behind me and pull a blanket off her bed, wrapping it around her. All the while I never let her go. I gazed up at Brennan and Jesse, hope filling my eyes, brimming with tears still yet unshed. "It's a miracle. Even Adam couldn't pull this off." I laugh, feeling....so many things, but above all....whole. "Emma, just relax. Breathe. Take it slow." I didn't have her gifts, so I had no idea what was going on in her head, but I could imagine. I could imagine all her feelings, as well as all of ours, reeling through her mind, trying to sort themselves out. Whose feelings are whose. I hated to say this, but it was for Emma's sake. "Close us out Emma, so it's just you in there." I stroked my thumb gently over her forehead. It had to be easier for her to deal with everything with us out of her mind. We just got her back, and I didn't want to drive her insane because of it. I cupped her face and looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"
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Post by Jean Grey on Apr 29, 2009 19:29:42 GMT -7
((My exit, just copy/pasted from the So She's Back thread...))
With Emma back, the Phoenix continues to have us watch the reunion, gaging Emma's response to her family just as much as basking in the emotions still around. As we watch, she speaks to me in our mind,
This is how the X-Men feel, when we come back?
The first time we came back, yes.
And now?
Now they know we're going to come back, so it's not the same. They fear you burning everything away, so there's more to it. But you already KNOW this, you're with me when it happens. Why does this all seem new to you now?
It feels new.
I can sense her confusion inside us, and I remember, the Phoenix Force was a non-sentient being, before she met me. Every transition, dead, alive, good, bad, white... she just doesn't see it in the way I do. We are one, but we are still not the same, and feeling human emotions through me, it will always be new to her, and second hand. She takes the necklace that Shalimar offers, and answers her question, the one spoken allowed, and a bit of a band-aid for all the ones just thought,
[glow=red,2,300]I am The Phoenix, and I am Jean Grey. [/glow] She takes an old Comm-link out of thin air, passing it to Shalimar,
[glow=red,2,300]Questions can be answered another time. Now, love her.[/glow] And with that, she turns to leave the room...
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