A/N: Another Twisting the Hellmouth, FFA pairing challenge, this one being the third and (currently) final installment of my White Witch Series.
TTH FFA: The White Witch and Queen: Tara Maclay/Emma Frost (Marvel Comics)
"Well, well. What have we here?" asked a cultured voice.
Tara once more found herself on the astral plane donned in her white phoenix outfit.
The voice belonged to a woman whose beauty people would literally kill for, perhaps going as far as to sacrifice several virgins to achieve it. She had long blonde hair and wore nothing but white. He top was extremely low cut and blatantly showed off the luscious swell of her rather sizable breasts, which bounced ever so slightly as the woman moved about. Everything Tara could see about this woman told her that this was planned- particularly for those who were enamored with the female form, as she moved gracefully and sensually with every move. The woman wore white high heeled boots that helped show off her rather shapely legs, covered as they were.
Tara had little doubt that there wasn't a single blemish on this woman's body.
"And you'd be right," the blonde woman agreed. "I put a lot of time and effort to look this good. Simple perfection in every second of every day."
Tara gulped. The woman felt a lot like Jean, only not. Similar abilities, at least in part, but the Phoenix Force's presence was muted in her.
"That's because I was only a brief host of the Phoenix," the woman informed Tara. "We are not nearly as... Intimately... Familiar with one another as it is with little Jeanie."
As she said this, she got close to Tara, invading the witch's personal space. Tara had to exercise an exrteme force of will to not back down, but still she was rattled by the woman's very being. The woman tugged at a primal part of Tara that she hadn't known existed.
The woman hummed as she appeared to be mulling things over as she scrutinized Tara. "Very interesting."
"W-what's interesting?" Tara asked hesitantly.
"Why you are, not to put too fine a point on it," the woman replied. "You are naught but a little hatchling. One with staggering potential, yet a hatchling all the same."
"Who are you?" Tara asked.
"Emma Frost," the woman introduced herself. "The White Queen and former host of the Phoenix Force, albeit for only brief moments in time."
"Why are you here?" Tara inquired further.
"It's not every millennia that the Phoenix finds such a fascinating new host within the whole of the omniverse. Most are just cutout copies of others- alternate versions of hosts that have come before. Offspring of the same. But you, and your friends, are quite another matter altogether. The Red Witch and The Slayer, such fascinating women. Ripper the Rejecter. Few would or even could deny a cosmic being nearly as old as the omniverse itself, yet he did. And then there's the enigma, the conundrum that is the Defender of Man," Emma told her.
"Xander," Tara whispered, though not low enough for Emma to not hear. Her white painted lip curled in distaste.
"Alexander," Emma said firmly. "A suiting name for one such as him, yet he rejects it like he both does and does not reject the Phoenix Force."
"Why is everyone so interested in Xander?" Tara asked defensively.
"Why are you interested?" Emma replied with a smirk.
Tara blushed. "I-It's not like that!"
"It's not, but it is," Emma responded. "So many conflicting emotions surround him. Summers fears and lusts after him, yet seeks to minimize his influence because she fears what might happen between them should things turn out like they did with her former paramours. She wants him, yet won't let herself have him, for a multitude of conflicting reasons. Rosenberg, on the other hand, loves him unconditionally, yet seeks to distance herself. Lust is there, yet muted- forced down. As she seeks to explore new facets of her being, she seeks to subdue and deny old ones. She will never truly be complete until she learns to accept herself- the light and the darkness."
"And what about Xander... And me?" Tara inquired.
"You, are damaged, but not irreparably. Finding Rosenberg was a godsend for you. Being fully accepted as you have by her friends was an even greater boon," Emma said. "Finding Alexander, and to a lesser extent Rupert Giles, has restored your trust in men. Not completely, and perhaps it will never be fully regained in a general sense, but you trust Alexander implicitly in ways you do not and perhaps could not trust another man. Part of that could be the Phoenix Force inside of him. Part of that could be a tattered remnant of his lost destiny. Part of it could be Alexander himself. Only beings that are older than creation could know for sure."
"As for Alexander... He is love personified," Emma continued. "He loves deeply and unconditionally. His craves it, gives it readily and no matter how much he loves he is still able to love more. Through lies and betrayal, multiple possessions, and being constantly permeated with the energies that originate from the Hellmouth, his capacity to love has not been diminished. Once someone had been named as one of his girls, even subconsciously, they will be until the end of his or their days: Buffy, Willow, you, Dawn and Anya. Even those who are no longer amongst your number for one reason or another, such as Joyce Summers, Cordelia Chase, Janna Kalderdash, Faith and even Ampata. Even for one such as I who is not an empath and lacking in empathy as I am, can empathically feel his heart."
"What does that mean?" Tara inquired.
Emma looked solemn. "We don't know. Across many galaxies, universes, and multiverses we have not encountered one such as he. At least none who have become host to the Phoenix Force. Already those of us who are more sensitive to it can feel it changing in unseen ways."
"Why come to me? Mo- Jean said that she could talk to anyone like this who had been a host to the Phoenix Force, yet the only one getting these visions are me? Why?" Tara asked in frustration.
"It's all right to think of her as a mother. In many ways she is a mother to all who come to possess the Phoenix Force," Emma assured Tara.
"You don't think of her that way," Tara pointed out being more than a little bit empathic herself. "You don't even like her."
"No, I don't. There is great history between us and several other versions of ourselves. No doubt she'd throw a tantrum if she even knew I was here," Emma replied with a hint of a smirk. "But that doesn't mean others do not. And regardless of my issues with Jean, that doesn't mean we can't be sisters, of a sort."
"I-I don't think you came a-all this way for sisterly bonding," Tara rebutted.
"No, I didn't," Emma said with deathly seriousness. "I came to see you for myself. To see what has caught Phoenix's attention after so long. You are not what I expected, but at least you have impeccable taste." She gestured at Tara's white outfit.
"I didn't exactly choose this," Tara said blushingly.
"I know that darling," Emma replied. "This is you, as you are at your core. There is a purity within you not often found- such innocence in the face of darkness rarely lasts and yet here you are."
"What about you?" Tara asked.
Emma chuckled at the girl's naivety. "If anything, I am you antithesis. Your opposite. My soul is blacker than most. I wear white for irony, for it symbolizes something I am not."
"But the phoenix chose you," Tara said.
"Yes and no," Emma replied. "Across the omniverse, I have chosen it- wanting its power as my own. Many times when it has chosen me, it's because I was the best of a lot of subpar options. Because, as I've been reminded constantly, I am not Jean Grey."
While Emma wasn't even slightly empathic, Tara was and she could feel the resentment and bitterness radiating off of The White Queen, the woman who zealously sought perfection, only to be second best at every turn. First to the likes of animals like Shaw and then later to everyone's favorite red-headed girl next door.
"I'm sure it's not like that," Tara tried to assure the woman.
"Isn't it?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'll admit no one can truly know the whole of the Phoenix Force's motivations, but just because a person or cosmic being doesn't mean for things to be as they are doesn't mean they aren't."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not you, little hatchling," Emma assured Tara with far more success. "As I said, there is far too much history between myself and Jean for us to do more than coexist. That being said, I won't let my long time grudge with your newly adopted mother figure interfere with my relationship with my newest sister."
"I… I don't know what to say," Tara replied with tears of happiness welling in her eyes. The level of acceptance she felt from Emma despite the levels of hatred the woman felt for Jean were staggering.
"In this place, we don't have to say anything," Emma replied as she placed her white gloved hands on either side of Tara's head.
Everything turned white.
"Whoa!" Tara said as she stumbled. She'd been walking into the kitchen to get something to drink when Emma had pulled her into the astral plane.
"Are you all right?" Xander asked.
"Yes. I'm fine. Just… A sister wanting a little chat…" Tara replied.
"Gotta say, Tare, must be nice to have so many people who care about you out there beyond this world and the next," Xander said.
"It is, but it isn't the same as being here with you," Tara said as she blushed a little. "All of you."
Xander smiled and Tara felt her insides flutter in a way that only Willow had previously managed to accomplish. "That's good to know."
"So what do we have going for today?" Tara asked, quickly changing the subject.
Xander grinned. "Well, first, I figured we'd take Dawn and…"