Kiss of the Phoenix

Testerone, Fire, and Earthquakes: A Band Touring Near You!

PART ONE
THE NEW ELITES

We don't have time to change. I'd be in my badass supersuit, and the boys would have the misfortune of being in latex yellow and black uniforms. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in my short denim skirt, faded, yellow "Xavier's Institute for the Gifted Youngsters" shirt and high-heeled shoes. I pull my red hair into a high bun on my head, and kick off my shoes- who needs them?

Rogue shoos us into the X-Jet, with Logan surprisingly in the pilot seat. We collapse into the seats as the X-Jet takes off abruptly, leaving the hanger, and our stomachs, behind.

"What's the rush?" I mutter, rubbing my head as I sink back into the plush leather seat. "We had time to change last time with Second here," I  say, jutting my chin over to Kota, who's looking out the window, his mind less of an erupting volcano and more a simmer. The Professor did him some good. I knew he would.

"First of all, Logan and Ah didn't wanna have to deal with Cyclops again," Rogue begins, her eyes flickering over to me. "Secondly, these two dumbasses are fightin'."

"What?" I exclaim, sitting up straight in my seat. Kota and Victor exchange glances, and I can see them running through different scenarios in their heads. "What do you mean they're 'fighting'?"

Rogue rubs her head, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, Ah don't Sang," she replies, a tinge of sarcasm on her face. "Rachel was the one mannin' Cerebra, and she just said the two new lights were fightin', and we needed to get there as soon as we good, cause it looked pretty ugly."

I nod, my hands gripping each other tightly as we make our way across the country to South Carolina. Again.

My mind is racing as I try and imagine what these two new mutants are like. Maybe they're girls and we can best friends. But the catastrophic fighting Rogue is describing doesn't sound like any girls I know. It sounds like every single guy I've ever had contact with. My mind turns to my ex-boyfriend Bobby da Costa and his friend Sam Guthrey getting into fights over who would date me, eventually being banned from seeing me for a week.

Maybe they're a teleporter like Uncle Kurt and I'll have an easier time sneaking out. But all the teleporters I know (except for Magick- that girl is fucked up) are even tempered and can't create the damage I'm imagining. Maybe they're like me and stuck between worlds-  being both powered and unpowered and relying on others to protect them. But God wouldn't be so cruel to give two mutants this power.

But it turns out, Silas Korba and Nathan Griffin are none of these things.

We land bumpily, and I let out a muttered curse as I look out on what used to be a football field. There are still bystanders meandering about, their phones out and recording, uncaring about the potential danger they can be in. I scramble out of my seat, the boys not far behind me.

Logan stops me before I can hop out, and before I can protest, his freezes me with a glare. "Look, kid, I trust you," he says gruffly, the loner unaccustomed to emotionally charged talks. I can hear the double meaning behind it like it's whispered in my ear. I trust you, unlike your dad. You're my kid now. "Just- be careful, okay? Rogue and I will be right behind yah the whole time."

I nod, and squeeze his shoulder, my forehead lightly touching his as I give him a one-armed hug. Everything I can't say aloud, in that moment, is said. I pour love and affection into him, show him my gratitude for the freedom he's giving me, for the chance I have to prove myself, for becoming storid protector who I needed it- for realizing that this is my time to be an X-Man.

His eyes are misty as I pull away. Everything said in only a few seconds.

I'll remember this moment in nine months. When I ask him to kill me. When he agrees.

We get out of the X-Jet, me wincing as I step onto the rough gravel of the parking lot with barefeet. Victor chuckles behinds me, placing a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Shouldn't have taken off your shoes, Princess," he teases, and I roll my eyes.

Before I can reply, the usually quiet Kota jumps in. "High-heels are very impractical, Victor, especially for the combat," he replies, and I snort, high-fiving Kota on his way down.

The glee drains out of me as a wave of heat rolls off the football and hits me. My eyes water and I let out a hacking cough as I take in the scene in front of me. On one side of the field, stands a humanoid pillar of fire. While Kota was pure magma and molten rock, this mutant is pure fire and heat. From the mutant's messy thoughts, I see it's Silas Korba. He's only half paying attention to the fight he's in. The other half of his consciousness is replaying a memory of finding a charred corpse in the remains of a burnt church, flames still flickering in the smoldering remains. All Silas can see is his mother being burned alive, her beautifully brown hair being devoured by devilish flames, her clothes catching fire and licking her olive toned skin, her green eyes being turned into burning embers. And his sane mind is burning with her memory, burning with every cell that became living flame.

I watched as he chucked a flaming fireball at the man who stood at the other side of the field, who blocks it with rock that comes out of nowhere. Now, Nathan Griffin's mind is different from Silas'. It's all sharp angles and hyper-focused, every fiber of his being wanting to win, to be the champion, to defeat whomever his opponent is. I can tell from his memories he doesn't know why they're fighting, just that he knows he has to fight this man who thinks he's more powerful than him. His body isn't made out of flame or magma or air- it's made out pure adrenaline and the need to win. His red hair is speckled with thorns that grow up from his very head, his arms wrapped by vines and leaves that need to protect their newfound master.

I watch as he raises his foot and slams it to the ground, a quake following it. I see Silas' flame flicker as he falls, but glow even brighter as he gets back up.

I turn towards my team, my finger to my mouth in aprehension. But that anxiety slowly starts to disappear as I see the trusting look in my Lights' eyes, the respect in my mentors' eyes. You can help them, Sang, I hear that little voice return, ever insistent. You just have to touch them, and they'll be okay. "Here's the deal," I say, casting a look behind my shoulder at the fight that was still brewing. "I need three of you to try and distract Nathan as I deal with Silas, and vice versa with Silas once I'm done with him. Rogue, I need you to stick with me incase I need you to knock someone out and take the edge of their power. Kota, you might be the best bet to distract Nathan with, as your form is similar to Silas'. Can you do that for me?"