Title: Starting Over

Pairing: Well, several. Jean/Logan and Scott/Emma for sure. Maybe a bit of Kitty/Colossus and Rogue/Remy for fun and flair. We'll see.

Rating: T at the beginning (mainly for language, because dude...seriously...Logan swears a lot.), M (for fluff, maybe?) later on.

Author's note: I had dropped off writing this and am now revisiting it, and revising it drastically. Still all the same pairings, but hopefully it'll make for a good read and i'll update it through to the finish. Hope you enjoy!

The soft whisper of the flames seemed to pulse in the whiteness. A movement...a flash...a scream...and then there was nothing, not even leaving any mist marking where the flame had been.

Slowly...

Another breath of flame. Weak though it was, this time it held. A flash of blue eyes took over the whiteness, then faded around the lick of fire.

I...am...

Like lungs inhaling for the first time, the flame drew from itself and expanded, sputtering and slowly gathering a hold in the white nothingness. More flashes now, of ice and fire and despair.

I thought...

Unfurling, each slow pulse of the form seemed to add to its strength. The images were no longer just flashes and feelings. There was night, and warmth, eyes opening anew. A summoning, too early.

I thought...I had been destoryed.

A tendril of the blaze lashed out, trying to subsume the next images. The stars, home for eternity, and ships bent on annihilation. And pain. Always pain.

How dare they!

The screech echoed, somehow, in an emptiness that could not contain the rage. The edges of the flare crackled and arced. Another violent pulse, and the flames collapsed upon themselves, compacting into a pinpoint of fire.

I am fire...

An explosion of heat rocked the whiteness, and the flames erupted anew with vicious purpose, filling the vast room with shimmering fire. The fire seemed to pull from outside the emptiness of the white, as if pulling every flame out of the universe. The images of claws, of burning energy, of a mind exploding in agony, of betrayal and heartache played within the flames.

...and life incarnate...

Each tongue of flame began to crawl towards the center of the room. Compacting, reshaping, compounding upon themselves in waves of radiance. The tendrils of fire began to show form, a body suspended in mid air consumed by the inferno. Human legs, human arms, a torso and head, and hair that seemed to flow beyond the unseen borders of the room. A strong hand, the jostling of classmates, a whispered plea to be safe, a voice intoning the litany of patience and calm, and over all of it a sweet aching for the simple pleasure of a gruff hello.

...now, and forever...

Eyes opened, the flames receeding and leaving brilliant green irises in their wake. A hand flexed and toes twitched, testing and relearning how to move and how to control actions to mirror thought. White and gold swirled, shaping itself to the body in swoops and slashes of design. No more flashes, no more memories, only a feeling of warmth and the knowledge of the most important fact of all.

...I. Am. Phoenix.