a/n: y'all thought i forgot about the phoenix, did you?

the following chapters will be from scott's pov until further notice

bring some tissues and enjoy what's one of my favorite arcs from the original X-Men cartoon along with my own twist because i can't leave well enough alone ;)

"LYLA!"

"Red?" I widened my eyes, quickly passing Alex to Rogue before running outside. "JEAN!"

"Lyla... She's finally calling me." Jean choked out, hunched over a tree and shaking. "The Phoenix calls."

"Red, I don't feel anything. How can she-"

"She's not calling you, Claws," Jean said, her voice thin but steady. "She's calling us."

"What are you talking about!? She had years to wake up, but she only showed through you... I have a kid, Jean! I can't just-"

"I know," she said softly, reaching out but stopping short. "That's why she's waking up. You've created life, Lyla. A flame born from flame. Alex... he's the first spark of something new and you know it."

"Jean, it was just a sliver what you gave me and she still took from me."

"It was. Just enough to bring you back. But the Phoenix doesn't give without knowing the cost," she said, her voice trembling. "She was supposed to take over, Lyla. But you didn't let her. You grew. Loved. You changed her."

"Changed her? No... she waited. Waited until I had everything to lose. My son. Scott. This life."

"She chose to wait, Lyla. Because she needed to see what you'd become. What we could become. You weren't just a vessel, you were a seed."

"No. No, I refuse. I'm not giving her anything else."

"You might not have a choice," Jean whispered. "She's already stirring inside you. That fire... it's not mine anymore. It's ours. You passed it down the moment Alex took his first breath."

"What?" I gasped. "No... he's just a baby! He can't—"

"She's not in him, Lyla. But she's watching. Because of you. Because of what you proved, that love can temper fire."

I turned, looking through the window where Rogue cradled Alex close. His little hands reached upward, a soft red flicker curling briefly in the air above his fingers before vanishing.

"I never wanted this," I whispered. "Especially not now."

"I didn't either," Jean said, stepping forward at last, resting a gentle hand on my shoulder. "But maybe now... we can choose what the Phoenix becomes."

"And if she doesn't let us?"

"Then we remind her exactly who we are."

"And Scott?" I asked as Jean held her head and my claws outstretched by themselves. "He thinks the Phoenix is permanently dormant in me... That we were past this!"

"He'll take care of Alex and know what to do."

I shook my head, feeling the warmth of the Phoenix's call deep inside me. It was like a pulse in my chest, steady and powerful. My hands trembled at my sides, claws extending involuntarily.

"Lyla..." The voice was soft, ancient, and powerful. The Phoenix.

"Not now..." I whispered, my voice cracking as I closed my eyes. I could feel it pushing, pulling... insistent, like fire licking at my skin, urging me to give in, to let it take me fully.

"Lyla... It is time. You have forgotten me."

The voice filled my mind, overwhelming and all-encompassing. My chest burned, the familiar heat spreading through me, but this time, it wasn't just the Phoenix. It was both of us... I was part of it, and it was part of me.

"No," I said aloud, my voice hoarse, desperate. "I won't do this. Not now, not like this."

"You cannot refuse what is in you, child of flame," the Phoenix whispered, softer this time, but no less forceful. "It is already awake. You are the key."

I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, clutching my head, fighting the pull. But there was something about it, something that felt right, like a call to the deepest part of me, to the thing I had buried so far beneath the surface. My fingers twitched, and a brief flare of red shot through my vision.

Jean stood at my side, her eyes filled with understanding, but also an undeniable sadness. She was watching me fight something she had once been so fully consumed by, and I could see in her face the empathy of someone who knew the cost too well.

"Jean, make it stop. Make her stop." I begged, trying to draw my claws back but they wouldn't budge.

"I can help you... Just like you helped me, remember?" Jean whispered and held my hands. "Answer it."

"No," I whispered again, but it felt weaker this time, fading against the power pushing through my veins.

"You have to," She said softly, her voice shaking, but calm. "We have to do this together. You're stronger than you know. She will only take what you give her."

"Lyla..." The Phoenix's voice was no longer just a whisper. It was in my bones, vibrating through my skin, alive. It was a call to the deepest parts of me, to the mother, to the warrior. "Let go."

And then, without warning, I felt it, the moment of choice. The moment when I realized that fighting was never the answer.

Let go.

I closed my eyes one final time, feeling the presence of the Phoenix filling me completely, but this time, I was in control. I chose.

"I accept."

。✯ ＼ ｜ ／✯ 。

~Scott's POV~

"What do you mean they're both missing, Rogue!?"

I mean they're gone, Scott." Her voice cracked, and it took everything in her not to break right there. "One minute they were outside talkin' and the next... just light. A lot of light."

My heart dropped. I pushed past her toward the door, eyes scanning the yard, the trees, the sky, like somehow they'd just... reappear.

"They wouldn't just leave," I said, my voice rising. "Not Jean. Not Lyla. Not after everything."

"I don't think they had a choice, Scott." Rogue stepped forward, slowly turning Alex toward me.

"I'm afraid I can't locate them." Charles said and we both turned to him. "It's the Phoenix, Scott... It awakened again."

"No," I whispered. "No, we buried this years ago. Jean had full control. Lyla... she safe from it. We all were."

"Scott, last time you faced the Phoenix-"

"We're all lucky to be alive." I interrupted Jubilee as the rest of the X-Men walked inside. "It killed Mystique, almost killed Lyla and fully took over Jean to the point where, if Lyla wasn't dying in front of her, she probably would've burned the world... That was years ago."

"And when Lyla died?"

"It was Magneto's fault... The Phoenix brought her back. We never had to worry about it, just a few overload of her senses here and there, but nothing more."

"But it was never gone, was it?" Ororo said gently, arms crossed, her eyes fixed on the scorched mark now burned into the yard outside. "The Phoenix doesn't leave gifts without expecting something in return."

"She said it was just a piece. That Lyla was safe."

"She was," Logan's voice rumbled from the doorway. He hadn't said a word until now. "Until she wasn't."

"Logan-"

"My own daughter..." He choked out.

A sudden crack split the sky like lightning without thunder. Everyone froze.

A fiery streak ripped through the clouds above the yard, like a comet descending far too fast, too furious. The earth trembled beneath our feet as it slammed down, right in the middle of the scorched ring that still smoldered from before.

Shockwaves rippled outward, windows rattling. Charles gripped the arms of his chair, Ororo instinctively stepped in front of Alex, and Logan's claws slid out with a snikt before he even realized. 

Smoke and fire coiled upward like a serpent, glowing with that unmistakable, impossible heat. The air shimmered with it. And through the rising haze, two figures emerged, barely standing, barely breathing, but unmistakably there.

Lyla and Jean.

Gambit and I immediately rushed towards them. Jean was cradling Lyla in her arms, her face streaked with tears and ash. Lyla looked unconscious, limp, but alive... barely.

"Jean!" I shouted, grabbing her shoulder, helping to steady them both. "What happened? What did you do?"

"Lyla tried to negotiate." Jean said hoarsely, her voice nearly gone. "I don't know if it worked..."

Lyla stirred. Just barely. Her fingers twitched.

"Scott..." she croaked.

"I'm here," I whispered, taking her hand. "I'm right here, sweetheart... I'm right here with you."

Lyla's lips parted slightly, and her eyes fluttered open, the gold I grew so accustomed to burning brighter than before, like flame beneath the surface. Not the full blaze of the Phoenix... but not entirely gone, either.

"She wanted Alex," Lyla whispered, voice gravelly. "I negotiated to take me and Jean instead... We'll both host her."

"Alex? Why would it-"

"He was born for her," She continued, shakily holding my hand and placed it on her stomach. "And so is this one."

"What do you mean... this one?" I whispered, my gaze flicking between her and Jean, who was still cradling her gently, her expression worn but resolute.

"I'm pregnant... and she showed me what they'll become." She admitted and my eyes widened. "They'll become beacons of destruction if I didn't negotiate... Alex and this baby are the perfect hosts."

"No more mutants." Bishop recited and we all turned to him. "They brought the end to all mutantkind because of their grief."

"Grief? Bishop, what the hell are you-"

"You all died because of them." He interrupted. "In my future, you two died fighting for them... Their grief was too much and they lost control of the Phoenix. Somehow, they combined their powers and ended all mutantkind."

Lyla's eyes shifted toward Bishop, the gravity of his words sinking in like a weight on her chest.

"No," she gasped, barely managing to keep her voice steady. "That's... that's not true. We... we stopped it. We were supposed to have control."

"But you didn't, Lyla," Bishop's voice was quiet but sharp. "The Phoenix doesn't allow control. It's never been about control. It's about destruction."

"No," Lyla whispered, her voice shaking with a mixture of defiance and fear. "That's not how it's supposed to be. We can control it. We can stop it. My kids... they won't go through what I went through!"

"The Phoenix doesn't want control," Jean said softly, her voice barely audible, "It never did."

"They won't go through what I went through!" Lyla repeated and I cradled her face in my hands. "Scott, they're... our kids-"

"We'll find a way, okay?" I promised and wiped her tears. "It's been us against everything, right? This isn't any different."

Jean looked at me, and then down at Lyla. Her hands were trembling now, not from fear, but from inevitability.

"I can feel it, Scott..." Jean whispered. "She's still inside us. She never left. Lyla and I, we're not the same anymore."

The mark of the Phoenix shimmered faintly on both their skin. Jean's across her collarbone, Lyla's curling up her wrist like fire branded into flesh. The heat began to rise again, rippling in the air like summer haze. I felt it on my face. Something was happening.

Lyla's eyes snapped open for just a second, burning like twin suns.

"Scott," she rasped, her body seizing in Jean's arms as waves of heat poured off her. "You have to get back... take Alex and—"

"No, no, I'm not leaving you, not again—"

"NOW!" she screamed, and the fire erupted.

Jean's scream echoed hers, as both women suddenly convulsed, golden flames coiling around them like serpents. The Phoenix Force surged outward in a silent explosion, no noise, just light. Blinding, all-consuming. Red, gold, white. The sigil of the Phoenix flared across the sky like a dying star flaring to life.

And then... silence.

The flames sucked inward violently, like being pulled into a collapsing sun. And at the center of it all, Lyla and Jean hovered together, arms outstretched, their bodies flickering like candlelight about to be extinguished. Their expressions frozen between agony and acceptance.

"Jean!" I shouted, but I could barely see through the radiance.

Lyla turned her face toward me one last time, her lips parting, barely audible through the rising wind.

"I'm sorry."

And then... everything stopped.

The light vanished. The heat dissipated. And two bodies began to fall.

I didn't think. I ran.

Faster than I ever had.

Faster than I thought I could.

Jean hit the ground first, flames still licking at her shoulders, and Gambit caught her just in time, cradling her as if she weighed nothing.

Lyla came next, and I caught her.

Right into my arms.

She was weightless. Burning hot but fading fast. I dropped to my knees, holding her close to my chest as the last embers of the Phoenix faded from her eyes.

"Lyla. Lyla, come on," I begged, brushing hair from her face. "Stay with me. You're stronger than this."

"Lyla!" Logan yelled and fell right next to us, immediately reaching out to hold her hand tight. "Come on, moonlight... Stay with me."

"Come back to me," I begged. "You always come back... Come back to me."

Lyla's lips trembled, her breathing shallow, each inhale a whisper of flame. Her eyes flicked open again, just barely, the glow within them now dimming like the final sparks of a dying fire. She looked between me and Logan, her gaze full of love... and sorrow.

"I tried," she murmured, barely audible. "I tried to save them."

"You did, Lyla," I whispered, tightening my grip on her, feeling her slipping. "You did everything right."

"Daddy..."

"Save your strength, moonlight." Logan choked back a sob and gently stroked her cheek. "We've got you... You're not done yet, okay? You still have a lot to do."

But I felt it.

The shift.

Like something ancient exhaled its last breath through her veins.

Jean let out a cry behind us, her body spasming in Remy's arms. The Phoenix inside her flared bright one last time, a blinding burst of crimson and gold that surged into the sky like a beacon. And then—

Silence.

Not peace. Not victory. Just... silence.

Lyla's body went slack in my arms.

"Lyla?" I whispered.

Nothing.

"LYLA!" I shook her gently, tears burning down my face, but her head rested against my chest, unmoving, heartbeat barely there.

Jean, too, had collapsed completely now, unconscious in Remy's arms, her pulse faint but present. Whatever deal they made, whatever piece of themselves they gave... it had taken almost everything.

Rogue rushed forward, her eyes brimming, taking Alex from Ororo, clutching him tight against her shoulder.

I held Lyla tighter than I ever had, rocking back and forth as the scorched earth still smoldered around us. Her hand slipped from Logan's.

"Oh, God..." He cried and buried his face in her hair. "Don't do this... Please, don't do this."

"She's breathing... barely," I said, my voice cracking. I pressed my forehead to hers. "She's still here."

"They're still in there," Charles said, pressing a hand to his temple. "But so is the Phoenix."

"Mama..." We heard Alex cry and I turned in time to see him trying to break free from Rogue's grasp, red flames dancing on his fingertips. "Mama!"

"Mama's gonna be alright, sugar," Rogue tried to soothe him but I gestured for her to bring him over.

Rogue gently brought Alex to my side, his small hands reaching out, instinctively grasping for his mother. The red flicker of flame danced across his fingertips, an eerie reminder of the power that was both his birthright and his burden.

"Mama..." he whimpered, his voice trembling with fear, innocence, and a desperate need to reach her. His little face crumpled as he gazed at Lyla's still form in my arms, his fiery hands reaching out toward her, but not quite knowing what to do with the energy pulsing through him.

"I know, Alex... I know." I choked out and quickly wiped my tears when he rested his head on her chest. "She's gonna be alright, okay? Mama's strong and she's protecting you... You might not understand it now, but she's protecting you."

Alex's fingers curled gently into Lyla's shirt, his cheek pressed to her chest, the faint emberlight from his touch barely illuminating her still face. As if responding to him, his presence, his love, that tiny fragment of shared fire... Lyla stirred.

Just barely.

A faint spark traced across her skin where Alex touched her. Her breath hitched.

"Did you see that?" Logan whispered, stunned. "She—she moved."

She's still fighting," I said, breathless. "Lyla... I'm here. Alex's here. You've got to come back."

Her lips parted slightly, a quiet breath escaping, and for a second, just a second, her eyes fluttered open, dim golden light shimmering behind them. Not the blinding inferno from before. Not the all-consuming flame of the Phoenix.

Just warmth.

"I heard him..." she rasped, barely more than a breath.

Jean stirred again as well, her body limp but breathing steady, her head resting against Remy's chest. Her eyes didn't open, but the air shimmered faintly around her.

Alex shifted in my lap, his head still against Lyla's chest. His flames pulsed once, then disappeared altogether. His eyes closed softly.

And Lyla... finally exhaled.

A deep breath. Real. Solid.

I could feel her heart, slow but steady, beating against my hand.

"You came back to us," I whispered.

"I never left," she murmured faintly, her eyes closing as she fell unconscious once more.

"Take them to the med bay," Charles ordered. Logan carefully took Lyla while I cradled a whimpering Alex close to my chest. "I'll see what I can do once we get them stable enough."

"Can you fix this, Professor?"

"I can try... I'm afraid that's all I can promise now."

。✯ ＼ ｜ ／✯ 。

"They're both stable for now. The Professor is trying to find out what the Phoenix wants with them, or Alex."

"And the baby? How far along-"

"About a week, maybe two." Hank answered and I nodded shakily. "Scott, she's stable which is a complete improvement from last time this happened."

"Last time, she was dead, Hank." I spat and continued to pace down the hallway. "I don't know what Jean did to bring her back, but she came back... Lyla always came back."

"I understand. But remember, Scott... Lyla has survived so much already. And she has you. That's what kept her going last time. That's what will keep her going now."

"I just—" I cut myself off, swallowing back the lump in my throat. "I just need her. I need her to wake up, Hank."

"We all do." Hank's voice was quiet, but there was a note of understanding in it. He placed a hand on my shoulder briefly before entering the med bay once again.

"Scott..." Kayla whispered and handed me some coffee.

"If you're gonna give me a pep talk, give it to Logan."

"Talk to him." She begged and gestured to the Danger Room down the hall. "You know how he is and won't listen to anyone... But you're his son in law."

"And Lyla?"

"I'll stay right here in case she wakes. Alex is with Jubilee sleeping, safe and sound. The rest are upstairs waiting."

I nodded, reluctant, eyes still lingering on the med bay door where Lyla lay hooked up to machines, looking too still, too small beneath the stark white sheets. The flicker of her flame was gone from her skin, but I knew better than to believe it meant she was safe. The Phoenix never left... it only slumbered.

I headed down the hall, my footsteps heavy against the metal floor, echoing in the stillness that followed a storm. The Danger Room door stood wide open, the lights low inside. Logan stood in the middle of the empty training floor, fists clenched at his sides, the burn of grief barely contained beneath his skin. His claws weren't out, but they could be at any second.

"You gonna just hover there, or you got something to say?" he grunted without turning.

"I don't know," I admitted, stepping in. "You looked like you could use someone who understands."

Logan didn't answer right away. His shoulders were tense, rising and falling with the weight of too many emotions bottled up in a body built for battle, not grief. When he finally turned to face me, there was something haunted behind his eyes, not anger, not quite. Something older. Sadder.

"I already lost her once," he said, voice low and rough. "I held her when the adamantium solidified and heard her heartbeat stop. Thought that would be the worst of it. But this...This was different. I felt her burning."

Logan glanced down at his fists and the claws started to grow. He raised a hand and inspected them, tears finally streaming down his face.

"I've lived a long time and done a lot of horrible things in life, Slim... Things that will haunt me forever. But her? That's the one thing I did right," He continued. "And holding her for the first time, watching her take her first breath... It felt like I found a reason to keep going... To keep fighting because I finally had something to fight for."

"You did right by her, Logan," I said, my voice quieter than usual. "You gave her everything. And she... she gave it right back. Every part of her. Everything she is... It's all because of you."

Logan's eyes met mine, a silent understanding passing between us. It was the kind of bond forged in the hardest of battles, one that didn't need words to be felt. His jaw tightened, and his claws retracted with a sharp snikt.

"I just can't lose her again, Scott," Logan muttered, his voice rough with emotion.

I didn't answer right away. I knew the depth of that fear. The fear of losing someone you never thought you'd get back, only to be reminded that even the Phoenix couldn't promise safety, no matter how much you fought.

"None of us can," I said finally, my voice heavy with the weight of everything we'd endured. "But we've come through worse together. We'll find a way. We always do."

He gave me a tight nod, a flicker of something softer crossing his face, before he turned back toward the Danger Room, pacing in that way he always did when the world had him cornered.

"Go be with her," I sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I have to go check on Alex anyways... I think Lyla needs the comfort of her dad a little more than she needs me worrying excessively."

He gave a small, grateful nod and moved past me without another word. I watched him disappear down the hallway, his silhouette smaller than I'd ever seen it, like the weight of his daughter's suffering had physically bowed his frame.

The moment he was gone, I let the composure drop from my shoulders. Leaning back against the wall, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. The silence was thick again, and it wrapped around my chest like vines, coiling tighter with every second Lyla remained unconscious.

The silence clawed at me. I couldn't breathe in it anymore.

I pushed off the wall and stumbled into the training floor, the echo of Logan's footsteps still fading behind me. My pulse thundered in my ears, and my hands trembled, not from fear, but from helplessness. That goddamn feeling I couldn't shake. She was alive. But not awake. She was here. But so far away.

"I can't..." I muttered, digging my fingers into my scalp. "I can't do this again."

The air shifted around me, charged, brittle. My breath hitched, and I reached up, yanking the visor off my face before the thought could stop me.

A blinding red torrent burst from my eyes, slamming into the far wall of the Danger Room like a dam had broken. The blast tore through reinforced metal, fire blooming from the impact point like a solar flare. I screamed with it... rage, grief, and desperation tearing out of me in a raw, unfiltered roar that drowned everything else.

I dropped to my knees, the optic blast still burning into the wall until I clenched my eyes shut and slammed the visor back over my face, panting hard. The ground beneath me vibrated from the force. The smell of scorched steel filled my lungs.

And then I felt her... Kayla. Her arms around me, grounding me in that sudden void left in the wake of the explosion. She didn't say anything at first. Just held me, one hand on my back, the other cradling the back of my neck as I shook beneath the weight of everything I was trying to hold together.

"I'm sorry," I rasped, the words barely forming. "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Kayla whispered into my shoulder. "You needed to let it out. It's okay, Scott."

"I'm supposed to be strong for her," I said, my voice breaking again. "For all of them. But I'm falling apart and she's not even... she's not—"

"You're strong because you love her," she said softly. "That doesn't mean you can't break. You're human. And you're not alone."

"I can't do this without her... She's the only one who always believed in me."

"She still does," she murmured. "Even now. Even like this. Lyla believes in you, Scott. That kind of love doesn't stop just because she's quiet right now."

My jaw clenched as I fought the tears I'd tried so hard to keep buried, the ache of them scorching behind my eyes even worse than the optic blast.

"She always came back," I whispered. "No matter how far she went... she always found her way back to me. What if this time—"

"She will," Kayla cut in firmly, not with the force of denial, but with the fire of someone who knew loss... and chose hope anyway. "Because you're her tether, Scott. Her anchor. You always have been."

I stared at the scorched wall, the jagged hole glowing faint red from the blast. The proof of my breaking, right there in steel and fire. The damage I couldn't undo. But behind me, Kayla didn't flinch. She stayed. Still grounding me. Still breathing.

"I don't know who I am without her," I confessed. "I thought I did once. Before everything. Before the world ended and started again. But the truth is, she's the one who makes me me. Without her, I'm just—"

"Lost," Kayla said. "But not alone."

"She has to come back... They both do."

"And they will... We just have to give it time." Kayla assured and gently lifted my visor to wipe my tears. "But we need you to hold on to hope, Scott... For them, and especially for Alex. He doesn't know it, but he needs you more than ever and you need him just as much, if not more."

"Hope?"

"That's all we can hold onto right now."