Joe's Note: Originally, I was tempted to rewrite Chapter 3 to incorporate Kat because among her many cosplays are two different versions of Emma Frost, which would have allowed her to neatly replace Willow. But then I realized… it would require me to pretty much destroy the chapter as it stood and rewrite it from the ground up, and it's a chapter that I actually really like. So instead, I'm going to double dip on the idea: a second chapter of Cordelia as Jean Grey, this time paired with Kat's Emma Frost for a couple costume. Oh, and Willow is still involved because she dressed as… well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Alexander, Howard, Alonsis2, Connor, MJ, Daniel, Christopher, Janne, Eric, DireSquirrel, Joseph, mpop, RileyWestfall, bloodylord, Luke, Zachary, Marc, Ziryo, Elliot, Crusifikz70, Timothy, Leigh, Jason, Chris, George, Koby, Ken, Dimitria, William, Invernos, Paul, Pat, Joel, Kentucky Fried Dragon, Warren, Mitch, and Jess for sponsoring me on , and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

Staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom in disbelief, Cordelia Chase tried to figure out exactly when her life had fallen off the tracks and crashed into the world of the weird. Granted she knew the whole series of events that had brought her to this point, but what had been the actual, singular point of no return?

Had it been when she'd been stupid enough to agree to her girlfriend's demand that she abandon her existing Halloween costume plans so that they could do a couple's costume together? Or when she'd checked out mentally during her girlfriend's rambling musings about what they should go as, nodding and smiling at the wrong time and implying support for a costume she had absolutely no interest in? When she'd failed to stand up to her girlfriend's insistence that since Willow Rosenberg had coincidentally chosen a costumed that coordinated with theirs, she should be allowed to come with them for the night? Or perhaps the most obvious point was at fault: when some kind of magic spell turned her into the fictional character that she was dressed as, transforming her into a costumed hero who turned out to have - in addition to the relationship that had caused Kat to pick the costume - an unexpectedly close connection to another of the spell's victims?

"What does it mean? Populus mavult videaris hoc modo. I don't… ugh, I knew I should have pushed Giles harder about those Latin lessons he keeps promising me. It's Latin, right? I feel like it's Latin. Do either of you know what it means?"

Pushing herself up onto her elbows, Cordelia watched as a purple-haired ball of anxiety paced back and forth at the foot of her bed, inwardly marveling at how the girl was simultaneously both very familiar and very foreign to her. While her hair was the same color as the wig that Willow had worn the previous night, it was distinctly Willow's real hair - high hairline, Eddie Munster-esque widow's peak, and all - in a new color rather than the wig being made real. Similarly, despite her new skin tone, eye color, and eye shape, her facial features were still mostly and distinctively Willow's… not that Cordelia spent much time staring at the girl. Although she had looked at Willow enough in the past to wonder where the purple-haired girl's curves had come from: she definitely hadn't possessed them before Halloween and at the risk of sounding racist, being voluptuous wasn't exactly a trait that Japanese girls were known for.

Well, except for Hitomi Tanaka, but she was also probably half again Willow's weight. Not, like, a twig with tits and ass glued to it. Willow looked like… a comic book character.

A comic book character.

Which was what Cordelia herself had dressed as for Halloween.

Oh God, what did she look like now?

"Why the hell is someone randomly shouting things in Latin at… eww, eight in the morning? God. I don't think I've been awake this early since back when I was your age, Cordy." Sitting up in bed, Kat McKee yawned and stretched languidly before pausing and reaching up to cup her throat. "Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd, cuz that's a good ideer. Hahvahd. Making you smahtah. Heh. Well, as far as changes go, a Boston accent isn't terrible."

Immensely grateful to have something other than her own situation - or a girl she really didn't give a shit about - to focus on, Cordelia smirked as she reached up, gently poking one of Kat's unnaturally perky breasts. "The accent is adorable and I'm loving you as a blonde, but I'm not sure how I feel about these."

Kat's hands rose to cup her breasts, the blonde staring down at them with wide eyes as she squeezed them experimentally. "I have implants. And I think I may be a little bit bigger now, but I'm more focused on… why do I have breast implants?"

"I woke up Japanese! I think we have bigger problems here than your implants!"

"Not from where I'm sitting!" Kat's head shot up as she scowled at Willow, flipping the girl off before returning to her self-inspection. "I mean, I know that Emma has 'the best body money can buy' in the comics but… we're pretty much the same size. What's the point of giving me implants?"

Forcing herself fully upright, Cordelia shrugged before nodding in Willow's direction. "What was the point of turning the Softer Side of Sears over there into Japanese fap fodder?"

Kat appeared to consider that as she followed Cordelia's gaze to where Willow had resumed her rapid pacing, muttering under her breath as she stared at the piece of paper clenched tightly in her hands. "Just out of curiosity, has she realized that she has a British accent yet or is she too busy freaking out over the changes to her body?" After a moment's thought, Cordelia shook her head; Willow had rambled for a bit before reaching the weird Latin phase of things but hadn't mentioned her new accent as best the cheerleader recalled. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. As for the point… I'm assuming the Latin came off that paper of hers? It means 'the people prefer that you appear in this way', give or take. I think Janus decided to use her to throw shade at Marvel editorial. Or maybe an entire lamp?" At Cordelia's blank stare, Kat sighed and gestured to the blue leotard thrown over the end of the bed. "Long story short: Psylocke used to be a white character and then got turned into a Japanese character because… I don't know, someone wanted fetish fuel? A few writers have tried to undo it over the years but Marvel's editor-in-chief keeps shooting them down."

"So basically Janus is trolling her. 'You like dressing as a white girl who got turned into an Asian girl so I'm gonna do it to you to see how cool you really think it is'. That's… pretty much exactly what I would do if I had godly powers. Hmm. Do normal people still worship Janus? If so, do they need priestesses? Because he's evidently the God of Cordelias, so I'd be perfect for that job." Cordelia chuckled as Kat buried her face in her hands, sliding out of bed and brushing her way past the still pacing Willow on her way to the ensuite. Flicking on the lights, she eyed her reflection in the mirror speculatively, turning her head to the side a little as she called out to her girlfriend. "Wait a second. Where did Janus come from?"

'I assume you mean 'why am I talking about Janus?' rather than something a bit more existential?' Kat's voice was soft, almost as if she was whispering into Cordelia's ear… except the redhead could plainly see via the mirror that Kat was most certainly not standing behind her. 'You do remember what Emma and Jean's primary power is, right?' Well yeah, but- 'It turns out that our changes are more than skin deep… and I swear that if you so much as think an implant joke, you will live to regret it.'

'WOW! LOOKS LIKE EMMA-'

'You don't need to shout, darling, I'm right here.'

'I'm not going to even bother finishing that, because getting yelled at for shouting ruins pretty much any witty comeback.'

'As someone who's in your head, darling? It wasn't that witty.' Ouch. Damn. Was this what it felt like to be Harmony? 'No. Unlike Harmony, you're actually capable of thinking. In this case, you were just a little too proud of what you'd thought up. Anyway… one of the first things Emma did last night was systematically sweep the town to see if anyone knew what was going on. It turns out that the guy we bought our wigs from was a wizard who worshipped Janus, and he used all the products he sold from his shop as the foci for a spell last night. Since she knew from reading his mind that the spell would wear off at sunrise, Emma decided that there was no point in going after him and so she… distracted… the others to buy the time that she needed to enact her plans.'

'Given that a bunch of Emma seems to have gotten left behind in you… I vote that you're now officially in charge of coming up with distractions when we need them.'

'Cute. But no, as soon as Emma figured out what was going on last night, she began making contingency plans in case this exact situation came to pass. She didn't want us to go through what she did as a teenager, so she left… are you old enough to remember self-extracting ZIP files?' Whats? A soft sigh filled her head, and Cordelia could picture Kat shaking her head despondently. 'Never mind. Basically, as soon as I woke up, a whole bunch of her knowledge unpacked itself into my brain including how to use my powers properly. And the knowledge to back a handful of college degrees that I… don't actually have, which means I won't be leaving my job at Shop Rite any time soon. Damn. Seriously, though, even I didn't know she was this smart. She had a BBA, a MBA with a specialization in international business, a BA in Psychology followed by a MA, and then all the specialized training that came after that to become a sex therapist. Wow.'

Cordelia found herself smirking as she leaned in, inspecting her reflection more closely than she had before. 'Damn. Not bad for someone who thinks that hot pants are a wardrobe staple.' Hmm. Apart from her newly green eyes and very natural-looking red hair… she'd come through Halloween relatively unscathed. She'd probably cut back on the sun worshipping a bit, let her skin lighten a shade or two so it worked better with her new coloration, but she was still fundamentally herself unlike Willow and even Kat to an extent. Straightening up, she racked her brain for… something. Anything out of place. But as best she could tell, there was nothing. She had memories of what Jean had done in her body the previous evening, but other than that? Nada. 'Looks like Jean wasn't anywhere near as proactive. As in, she didn't leave behind anything at all. Which is fine, I guess; I'm perfectly happy still being one hundred percent Cordelia. Although if I remember The Last Stand right… shouldn't I be having the same problems that Emma was worried you'd have? If not worse, because Jean was a bigger telepathic badass?'

A faint chuckle rolled through the redhead's mind, accompanied by the sensation of invisible fingers brushing over her bare shoulder. 'Just because you can lift the biggest sword doesn't mean that you're any good at wielding it, darling. Jean had greater telepathic potential than Emma, yes, but Emma had far greater control. And you'd be experiencing what it's like to have great power and no clue how to control it… if I hadn't followed Emma's directions and installed psychic blocks in your mind. You're welcome. Once Willow finally calms down, and we're all showered and fed? Emma actually had the foresight to extract memories of training from Jean and Betsy; they're waiting here in the back of my head, ready for me to transfer over. An hour with each of you, and you'll be… not X-Men, but at least worthy of being members of Emma's Hellions.'

And as soon as she had the basics stuffed into her head, Cordelia was going to start practicing her ass off because who wanted to be a Hellion when they could be an X-Man? What the fuck was a Hellion, even? If she was going to be stuck as a freak of nature, then Cordelia was going to be the best damn freak she could possibly be! Giving herself one last look in the mirror, Cordelia blew herself a kiss before making her way back out of the bathroom, neatly sidestepping Willow yet again as she returned to sit on the end of her bed. Meeting Kat's eyes, she nodded in the purple-haired girl's direction. 'So, we obviously need to keep Neurotic McFapbait around in the short-term so you can cram stuff into her mind, but do our medium and long-term plans involve her at all? Because a really big part of me thinks it'd be hilarious to make her do a Walk of Shame all the way across town… while a much smaller part is kinda curious to see if she'd be into doing to me what Betsy did to Jean last night.'

Crawling across the bed, Kat pressed herself up against Cordelia from behind and rested her chin on the shorter girl's shoulder, rubbing gently against Cordelia's skin as she turned her head back and forth to follow Willow's movements. 'I assume you're talking about the telekinetic spanking and choking portion of last night's entertainment?' Well, either that or having Willow eat her ass; Kat had made it very clear that any form of butt stuff was on her Oh Hell No list. 'I feel like it would be a good idea to wait until I've transferred those memories and she's had some practice with her powers? Because seriously, what part of 'untrained telekine squeezing your throat' sounds like a good idea to you? Do you want a crushed trachea? Because that's how you get a crushed trachea.'

'…huh. And here I was expecting your main objection to be that it's cheating. Unless you took it as me suggesting a threesome, which should be a completely different lecture.'

Kat snorted faintly before turning her head to the side and nipping Cordelia's jaw gently. 'Darling, I've never been anything but completely honest with you about the fact that the D/s thing is a hundred and ten percent me fulfilling your fetish, not a shared interest. So while normally I'd be a big 'hell no' about threesomes and cheating will always be grounds for immediate dumping, no questions asked?' Returning her chin to where it'd been resting on Cordelia's shoulder, Kat wrapped her arms around the redhead from behind. 'I might… possibly… maybe be willing to consider an exception under incredibly specific circumstances.'

'The fact that she actually has an amazing rack now doesn't hurt, huh?'

'…that's one factor that I'm taking into consideration, yes.'

Cordelia tilted her head to the side, resting her cheek against Kat's as they continued to watch Willow pace. Idly, Cordelia wondered if this was the view that Kat had from the bed whenever Cordelia got up first. Actually, Willow might actually outclass both of them in terms of how much jiggle she was now packing up top… not that Cordelia minded. Finding sexy bras in her current size was hard enough; she had absolutely no desire to be any bigger than she already was. Finally, the appeal of ogling Willow's new form wore off and she let out a sharp whistle. "Hey! Rosenberg! It means 'the people prefer that you appear in this way'." Skidding to a stop, Willow shot Cordelia confused look and the redhead jerked a thumb back over her shoulder. "Turns out the bae speaks Latin now. Basically, we think that Janus decided to treat you like the comic Betsy and turn you from a white girl into an Asian girl for the lulz. The note is evidently a reference to some really gross shit that goes on at Marvel headquarters. Mystery solved. You're welcome."

Mouth working soundlessly, Willow's incredulous gaze bounced back and forth across the room rapidly: starting on Cordelia before dropping down to stare at her transformed body in disbelief, shooting over to Kat for a few seconds before returning to her own body, and then finally returning to Cordelia. When she spoke, it… wasn't quite the last thing Cordelia expected to hear but it was pretty far down on the list. "Psylocke used to be white?"

"…wait, seriously? Rosenberg, even I googled Jean before-"

"Oh my fucking God, am I the only person who does her homework before cosplaying a character anymore?"