Hungry for Another One

Kingsoul

Even as the rays of dusk flittered through the large windows, Scott Summers didn't quite feel at home in the Avenger's Mansion, and it showed.

Hidden away in the far corner of the mansion's library, Scott was still. Unmoving, despite the restless energy welling inside. His gaze was drawn to a point beyond the window, beyond the horizon and the fading light, that only he could see.

That was how his wife finally found him.

"There it is." Jean called as she gracefully rounded the corner during her approach. "The Scott Summers patented brooding pose. I suppose this is an upgrade from your nervous pacing when you were younger. Now, you're just nervously sitting still while your thoughts are pacing."

"I'm glad you're chirpy as usual." Scott retorted chillily. His body did thaw when her warm presence pressed up against him.

"What can I say?" Jean lazily murmured, her head resting on his shoulder. "I don't have as colorful a history with these guys as you."

"Colorful." Scott sighed. "That's a nicer way of describing it, I guess."

Jean shot him a sidelong glance. "…are you having second thoughts?"

Scott cracked a small smile. "Am I that transparent?"

"To a telepath that's known you since you were a teen? Yes. You're like a glass ball." Jean teased. And then, slowly, she cupped his cheek. "I can't tell you not to worry, but I can reassure you that I am here. We… are here."

And Scott immediately knew who his wife referred to.

Clad in white and gold Phoenix armor instead of her red and blue combat suit, Jean knew her presence in the upcoming ceremony was a reminder of her renewed bond with the Phoenix Force to all eyes that gazed upon her. A reminder that all those that stood against her would be judged by fire and life incarnate.

Her gesture made Scott eternally grateful- even when it made the symbolism of wearing the red of his uniform as a sign of his willingness to stand against those that harmed him and his feel like a trivial thing.

He could only wonder what manner of dress Emma would wear. Or even Six.

If he had to guess, Emma would likely wear her white just to remind everyone of her superiority.

"I know." Scott leaned against her. "I'm just uncomfortable with the future's uncertainty."

"When was it ever certain?"

"Never." Scott sighed. "It's why I have a bottomless stash of antacids."

"About that…" Jean began, and Scott glanced down at her curiously. "Some of them are out of date, you know."

"It's a tablet. It only loses ten percent efficacy per year."

"By ten years."

Scott blinked. "Ah."

"Ah is right, mister Summers." Jean giggled at his stupefied face. "You might as well drink a sugar pill."

"I'll sort through it when I have the time." Scott promised.

"That's what you said before." Jean pushed away, sensing a person's approach. "Emma was already eager to throw out the entire box in frustration if I hadn't stopped her."

"Well, Emma's solution to anything is to simply buy some more." Scott huffed.

"And with wealth like mine, why make things complex?" Emma suddenly cut in, making her presence known. The woman glided towards them with graceful steps and a teasing smirk. "I see you indolent gossips have restarted your baseless slandering of me behind my beautiful back."

"Beautiful, she says." Jean pretended to retch, though the act couldn't wipe the amusement from her lips.

"My bad." Scott apologized. He glanced over at his approaching lover and, indeed, she was clad in white. "And your contours are definitely beautiful."

"Flattery, Scott?" Emma took his other side, cupping a bicep before shooting a glance across him. "Tell me, Jean. What else should Scott be apologizing for while I was away with our dear little monster?"

"That Six chose you to help her get ready instead of him. What? I don't need to read your mind to know how you spent the afternoon, Scott." Jean ignored Scott's betrayed look. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at Emma. "And, really. Can you stop calling her that? Speaking of, where is she?"

"She's eating, of course." Emma pointed out. "And I will stop when she stops being one. But we all know that will never happen."

Sensing where the conversation was going- to another old and unfinished argument about how to properly raise the Avatar of the Void- Scott quickly changed the subject. "Six has been in a good mood ever since the two of you returned from Australia."

"Where Emma lost her." Jean curtly reminded, deciding to let the tireless argument slide for now.

"I found her again, didn't I?" Emma grumbled reflexively, shooting a small glare at the smug redhead before visibly sighing. Brushing a lock of blonde over her shoulder, she turned to Scott. "And has she, Scott? I hadn't noticed."

But despite her words, Emma's blue eyes shimmered.

"You did." Scott smirked in amusement over Emma's clear preening. Whatever peace Six found, she had found it with Emma at her side.

The White Queen was definitely a rose. For all her thorns, people were still drawn in by her natural charisma. Even the reticent Six was no exception.

Scott could still remember his surprise when happened. After days of Six's restless pacing, Emma had declared, following another session with the girl, that they needed to fly to the land down under. Scott knew how much Emma detested leaving her ivory tower, so to volunteer herself—and decline any other companion—to accompany Six had definitely taken years from his life by worry.

"She has." Jean reassured. "I'm happy to see Six happier, now. How did she master it?"

Emma shook her head.

"Mastery? Certainly not. What Six earned during our sojourn was reconciliation with the Void." Emma pointed out. After a brief pause, she then added, "And a new companion, I suppose."

Jean nodded, knowing exactly who Emma was alluding to. Six's pet insect was difficult to ignore: a headstrong hornet wielding, of all things, a needle.

Had she not seen stranger things in her life, she might have been constantly perturbed. Still, Six and her hornet definitely ranked in Jean's personal top three.

"And to think we're now presenting her to this community." Scott murmured.

"I just hope she doesn't misbehave." Jean sighed.

"Or, she'll at least devour Steve if she feels peckish." Emma nodded her head, before noticing the odd stares Jean and Scott shot her. "What?"

"Emma, play nice." Jean chided.

"What she said." Scott supported.

"I was." Emma pouted at them. "If I wanted to be mean, I'd have said Six should devour Logan, too."

"Now, now." Scott stood firm. "To Logan's credit, he came to protect Six when he was needed-"

"And he hasn't tried to stab me after bonding with the Phoenix Force." Jean added.

"-so I can't think of a reason why you want Logan eaten."

"He still smells like stale beer."

"Now that's just mean." But still, Jean couldn't banish her amusement.

"And your honor," Emma glanced up triumphantly at Scott, "I rest my case."

Jean giggled, and soon Emma joined her. Scott shook his head, but the tension in his shoulders eased.

"Tell me honestly, Scott." Emma sighed when her mirth finally mellowed. "When you picked up Six after leaving the X-Men, did you imagine you'd be here, preparing to present her to our little community?"

Scott took a moment to think about the question, and even longer to finally compose the words, before finally deciding, "In truth, I wanted to hide her. But Steve is right." Scott sighed, reluctant as he was to admit a very simple fact, "How can I expect trust if I'm not even willing to talk?"

"You've both been burned before." Jean pointed out. She shot a glance over at Emma, whose blue eyes had turned cold and unreadable. She could only imagine what Scott and Emma had gone through, and she wondered if she could manage to swallow the bitterness of the experience if it had happened to her, as well.

"And it's not easy to trust again." Once bitten, twice shy. And while it is easy to ask for forgiveness, broken trust is infinitely harder to repair. "But whatever issues are between them and I doesn't matter. Six does. She matters."

Trust wasn't something asked. It was a bond that took time to build, and it could never form if he was always on his guard.

"And if they decide to murder her again?" Emma coldly asked.

"Over my dead body."

"Our dead bodies, darling." The growing grin on Emma's face could only be described as vicious. "Yours, Jean's, and mine."

"Of course." Jean nodded her head.

"Good." Emma smirked. "Just so we're clear. I can't always be the one putting her life on the line."

The sarcastic barb easily cut through the lingering tension.

Scott breathed out a deep sigh. "I'm just uncomfortable with all this…"

"Pomp and circumstance?" Emma supplied.

"Grandstanding." Scott grumbled.

"It's a show of support." Emma explained. "A debut—with Six as our darling debutant. Through presenting Six as ward of both the X-Men and the Avengers, people are under the impression few will dare attempt any ill towards her."

"And you don't?"

"Neither do either of you." Emma rolled her eyes. "Some people believe they are a lot more important than they truly are. And we all know it is not the reasonable person we should be most wary of." The dark implication lingered for but a moment before Emma finally dispelled it with a sigh. "Still, I cannot refute that maybe our factions wouldn't have fought if there was proper discourse."

"People fear uncertainty." Jean, ever optimistic, reasoned. "And in response, they attempt to control. To exert their dominance to reassure themselves their fear won't hurt them. But at their core, they are not evil; just afraid."

"Oh, you." Emma shook her head slowly. If ever they decided to teach again, Jean should definitely start a course on the secrets of the universe. "And here I thought your renewed bond meant Scott and I have successfully opened your eyes."

"And corrupted me?" Jean cheekily jabbed, making light of Emma's role in driving the Phoenix Force insane those many years ago. Emma scowled in response, understanding the jab for what it was. "My eyes are open, and I see their fear as easily as I can see your blue eyes." Jean then gestured to herself. "What I am now is both deterrent and weight to balance the scales. Definitely, there can be no equal discussion if one side is clearly weaker."

"Balance, she says." Emma rested her chin on her hands, glancing out the window and towards the darkening skies. "They already know we have the Void. They know she's guarded by Scott- who is very adept at destabilizing institutions. And now we have the Phoenix Force."

"Are you worried we're amassing too much power?" Scott asked.

Emma sighed forlornly. "I'm worried about my place in all this."

Scott's brow twitched. How typical.

"You keep the Void in check." Jean pointed out helpfully. "By placating Six and diving inside her mind during your sessions, you're arguably the reason we even made it to this point in the first place."

"Huh. For all my skill and fortune, my worth is tied to a nine year-old's whimsy." Emma's hair slowly shook as the White Queen reveled in the irony. Still, she did not seem at all bothered despite her words. "This must be what is called karma." She concluded,

"You were pretty nasty before." Jean smirked.

"And yet you did appreciate my nastiness last weekend." Emma raised a suggestive brow.

The blatant and unexpected reminder instantly made Jean flustered. "You know what I meant!"

It was Emma's turn to smirk. "Despite everything, you're still such a prude."

"And you're still far too liberal!" Jean huffed, her cheeks still as red as her hair.

Scott chuckled quietly as he observed Emma and Jean's bickering banter.

He knew they were putting on a show, taking his mind off his concerns.

In an hour, it would be curtain time, and he had to perform his role.

In a few minutes, they would need to retrieve Six and prepare her.

But those worries were still several more seconds away.

For now, he still had this moment.

With Jean.

With Emma.

And so every worrisome moment after this could still wait.

-0-0-0-

A/N: Yes, I'm now adding Hollow Knight into the mix. Y'all should definitely check that game out if you haven't done so yet.

Just a few points:

- The Kingsoul is a charm (power-up) from the Hollow Knight game symbolizing the union between higher beings. In this case, the trinity of Scott, Emma, and Jean.

- Granted, this does carry the implication that Six and the Void will eventually devour them. Certainly, the Void sees the resemblance between the Phoenix Force and a certain detestable radiant moth…

- As implied, Six, after another telepathic therapy session with Emma, was suddenly compelled to go to Australia sometime after the events of Avengers vs Summers/X-Men 2.0. There, Six stumbles upon the Dream Nail, learns of the Knight's symbiosis with the Void, and finally finds inner peace.

- And Six acquires a new friend, too- a skull mask-wearing, needle-wielding Hornet in a pink dress. "Git gud!"

- Australia was chosen because Team Cherry, the devs behind Hollow Knight, are based in it

- For Jean's armor, think of Jean's Phoenix Five costume from Marvel: Avengers Alliance (yeah, that FB game) but with White Crown colors.

- Less torturing Six in this HfAO entry, and more parents talking.

- Scott being a threat to institutions/establishments/governments was a meta-joke alluding to DisMarvel (and especially JDW) pretty much becoming deranged in their obsession to make him a villain in the 2010s, before Hickman came along. Needless to say, they've consistently and spectacularly failed each time.

This piece was a 3 week struggle. It underwent numerous revisions because I wasn't satisfied with how the trio's voices came out each time I re-read this. At this point, I'm quite fed up wasting time, so here is the final version. Hopefully, I was able to convey Scott's nervous worrying, Jean's resilient optimism (not to be confused with cheerfulness), and Emma's hollow sense of superiority.

And that's it for now.

As always, if you liked what you've read, please do drop a review!

Until next time~!