X-Men: "The Flower Garden (of a Vicious Ice-Cold Bitch)" (Kitty/Emma, PG)
Title: The Flower Garden (of a Vicious Ice-Cold Bitch)
Fandom: Astonishing X-Men
Pairing: Kitty Pryde/Emma Frost
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Torn (AXM #13-18), Phoenix: Endsong, etc. (Please don't spoil me for Unstoppable!)
Summary: There are some things from which one cannot hide, some times when one just has to try anyway, and some people one would never admit one needs.
A/N: Thanks to booster17 for the beta.
It is difficult to keep the thoughts together in everything; one little mistake upsets all our arrangements.
--Hans Christian Anderson, "The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure" from The Snow Queen in Seven Stories
The Flower Garden (of a Vicious Ice-Cold Bitch)
Did you really think you'd be able to hide from me? Nova asks as she takes a step towards them in the dreamscape. She holds the gun in her hand. When she fires, the bullet which will kill Emma will be fashioned of pure mental energy. You're just children. Two little girls playing hide-and-go-seek.
Emma's skin transforms to diamond, a dreamscape manifestation of Emma marshalling all of her mental defenses even as her physical body remains flesh-and-blood in order to continue her rapport, her last link to the only person who can save her, the one person she can trust when she knows she cannot trust herself.
The gun fires. Emma falls.
*
Before. . . .
Emma combs out Kitty's long brown hair with a golden comb, and the dark curls hang down on each side of the little round pleasant face, fresh and blooming as a rose. “I have long been wishing for a dear little maiden like you,” Emma says, “and now you must stay with me, and see how happily we shall live together.”
And while she goes on combing little Kitty’s hair, Kitty thinks less and less about Michael, about Peter and the Professor and all the others who had betrayed her and tried to take her son away from her. The memories of the nightmarish three years that had been constructed for her fade away, replaced with nothing but peace and joy.
Emma goes into the garden, and looks at the bees and the butterflies and all the bugs and insects, and with a thought banishes them from the place, the constructed reality bending itself to her will, all reminders of the world they once lived purged. Then she takes Kitty into the flower-garden. How fragrant and beautiful it is! Every flower that could be thought of for every season of the year is here in full bloom; no picture-book could have more beautiful colors. Kitty jumps for joy, and plays till the sun goes down behind the tall cherry-trees; then they sleep in an elegant bed with red silk pillows, embroidered with colored violets; and Kitty dreams as pleasantly as a queen on her wedding day. The next day, and for many days after, Kitty plays with the flowers in the warm sunshine. She knows every flower, and every plant, and every bird and every beast, and yet, although there are so many things in Emma's flower garden, it seems as if one were missing, but which it is she cannot tell.
*
Kitty loves gardening.
Emma doesn't see the appeal herself, but she enjoys watching Kitty work, so she sets up a chaise longue in the garden. She lies in the sun in a red bikini with a chilled drink in one hand and a trashy novel which she would never dream of reading but which nonetheless completes the look in the other, but her skin refuses to tan, remaining a consistent shade of mother-of-pearl. Kitty, of course, has dutifully slathered herself with SPF One Zillion.
The flowers do not need anyone to take care of them; indeed, Emma suspects that if anything, they rather resent Kitty's intrusion. But Kitty has not quite mastered the art of doing nothing, and throws herself enthusiastically if needlessly into the task of managing the garden. It's quite clear that Kitty loves the work; she pretty much glows as she works. She might be wearing a pair of overalls (of all things!) with that black sleeveless t-shirt she seems to love so much, not to mention covered in mud and dirt besides, but Emma has to admit that when she's at work, Kitty is absolutely beautiful.
And then one day, as Kitty's trowel makes its way through the soft earth, something happens to quite literally cause Kitty and Emma's peaceful world to crumble down upon them:
Kitty finds a worm.
Kitty looks at it; its shape and form are familiar to her in a way that she cannot say. "What, are there no bugs here?" she says out loud as she stares at it, thinking. She searches through the garden but, save for the one she has just found, there is not a bee or a butterfly or a snail or a spider to be found; not even a slug.
A slug. Memories are stirred in the back of her mind, of searching for Michael and finding something else instead. But if there are no bugs in the garden, how did this one find its way here?
"Oh no," Kitty whispers, as the memories rush in and the terrible truth becomes apparent. "She's found us."
Cassandra Nova's laughter echoes through the garden, triumphant.
*
Before that. . . .
"Guilt," Scott says.
"Guilt about falling in with Shaw, becoming the White Queen, failing her students in Genosha . . . surviving." Scott lists the litany of her sins like some Greatest Hits list, hitting all the highlights and skimming over so many little, subtle things: the conflicts she's created, the people she's hurt, the students she's gotten killed.
"Survivor's guilt is incredibly powerful. The randomness of who lives, the responsibility towards those who didn't. . . . There's a voice in her telling she's evil, she's always been evil, that even Genosha was her fault."
Evil. Yes, that's what she is. The White Queen.
"And she thinks that voice is hers."
Nova?
Oh, come on, my dear. I didn't tell you anything you didn't already know, now did I, Emma?
"No!" Kitty's shout startles Nova, just a little, enough that her control weakens. That's it, Emma manages to think. Keep your promise to me, Kitty. Do what needs to be done. "Three years!" Kitty says. "Three years of horror this maniac stuck in my head and you're giving me an insanity plea?"
Time to concentrate, dear. Time is becoming a factor.
"Doesn't anyone care what she did to us?"
Do it now, Kitty. Pull the trigger and end this. Put an end to Hellfire, once and for all. Emma relaxes and embraces the inevitable.
Until Scott, of course, has to interfere. "Cassandra brought you here to open the box. What Emma brought you here to do is what you're doing now."
Kitty hesitates, and so with her last bit of strength, Emma shoves her mind into Kitty's, shows the child who and what Emma is, and why she needs to be put down.
*
Emma doesn't bother to change the scene; the tableau she and Kitty now inhabit within their minds is indistinguishable from their physical location, except for the absence of the other X-Men. Kitty still holds the gun in her hand.
Do it now, Nova's voice commands in Emma's mind.
"Katherine, please. I'm not strong enough. I can't fight her." What was the term Nova used? Bush league. "You have to do it."
But Kitty, being Kitty, turns away, unable (or just unwilling?) to give her even this much solace. "There has to be another way," she says. "We need to run. Or hide."
Hide. Emma reaches out with her mind and constructs a home for them, hidden deep within their subconsciousnesses, out of echoes of stories they both were told long, long ago: a place where maybe, just maybe, Nova will not be able to find them.
A flower garden.
*
Now. . . .
Kitty kneels over Emma Frost as she lies on the ground, diamond soaked in blood. "Come on, Emma," she says. "You can't give up. You're Emma Frost." There is a tremble in her voice, and her heart is pounding. "You don't even need to use telepathy to inspire lustful thoughts in the entire schools--students and faculty. You have less fear than fabric in your costume. You're the woman who still appears in my nightmares. You stared into the eyes of the Phoenix Force without blinking, took it into yourself, and still lived to tell the tale. You just beamed two years of hell and a few days of ecstasy into my mind and I can't decide if I love you or hate you for it. You're the White Queen.
"You are a vicious ice-cold bitch, Emma Frost, and there is no way in hell that you are going to let some bald psycopath get the better of you."
Emma smiles, weakly. "How you do go on, Katherine Pryde," she says.
Another round, then? As you wish, Emma.
Nova raises the gun, prepared to fire again, when a new voice breaks into the dreamscape: Scott's. If you can hear me, Emma, hear this: you can send Cassandra back. You have a choice.
Emma sits up and looks at Nova, her gaze hard as diamond. She reaches out and takes Kitty's hand in hers.
"Go to Hell."
The End
Fandom: Astonishing X-Men
Pairing: Kitty Pryde/Emma Frost
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Torn (AXM #13-18), Phoenix: Endsong, etc. (Please don't spoil me for Unstoppable!)
Summary: There are some things from which one cannot hide, some times when one just has to try anyway, and some people one would never admit one needs.
A/N: Thanks to booster17 for the beta.
It is difficult to keep the thoughts together in everything; one little mistake upsets all our arrangements.
--Hans Christian Anderson, "The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure" from The Snow Queen in Seven Stories
The Flower Garden (of a Vicious Ice-Cold Bitch)
Did you really think you'd be able to hide from me? Nova asks as she takes a step towards them in the dreamscape. She holds the gun in her hand. When she fires, the bullet which will kill Emma will be fashioned of pure mental energy. You're just children. Two little girls playing hide-and-go-seek.
Emma's skin transforms to diamond, a dreamscape manifestation of Emma marshalling all of her mental defenses even as her physical body remains flesh-and-blood in order to continue her rapport, her last link to the only person who can save her, the one person she can trust when she knows she cannot trust herself.
The gun fires. Emma falls.
*
Before. . . .
Emma combs out Kitty's long brown hair with a golden comb, and the dark curls hang down on each side of the little round pleasant face, fresh and blooming as a rose. “I have long been wishing for a dear little maiden like you,” Emma says, “and now you must stay with me, and see how happily we shall live together.”
And while she goes on combing little Kitty’s hair, Kitty thinks less and less about Michael, about Peter and the Professor and all the others who had betrayed her and tried to take her son away from her. The memories of the nightmarish three years that had been constructed for her fade away, replaced with nothing but peace and joy.
Emma goes into the garden, and looks at the bees and the butterflies and all the bugs and insects, and with a thought banishes them from the place, the constructed reality bending itself to her will, all reminders of the world they once lived purged. Then she takes Kitty into the flower-garden. How fragrant and beautiful it is! Every flower that could be thought of for every season of the year is here in full bloom; no picture-book could have more beautiful colors. Kitty jumps for joy, and plays till the sun goes down behind the tall cherry-trees; then they sleep in an elegant bed with red silk pillows, embroidered with colored violets; and Kitty dreams as pleasantly as a queen on her wedding day. The next day, and for many days after, Kitty plays with the flowers in the warm sunshine. She knows every flower, and every plant, and every bird and every beast, and yet, although there are so many things in Emma's flower garden, it seems as if one were missing, but which it is she cannot tell.
*
Kitty loves gardening.
Emma doesn't see the appeal herself, but she enjoys watching Kitty work, so she sets up a chaise longue in the garden. She lies in the sun in a red bikini with a chilled drink in one hand and a trashy novel which she would never dream of reading but which nonetheless completes the look in the other, but her skin refuses to tan, remaining a consistent shade of mother-of-pearl. Kitty, of course, has dutifully slathered herself with SPF One Zillion.
The flowers do not need anyone to take care of them; indeed, Emma suspects that if anything, they rather resent Kitty's intrusion. But Kitty has not quite mastered the art of doing nothing, and throws herself enthusiastically if needlessly into the task of managing the garden. It's quite clear that Kitty loves the work; she pretty much glows as she works. She might be wearing a pair of overalls (of all things!) with that black sleeveless t-shirt she seems to love so much, not to mention covered in mud and dirt besides, but Emma has to admit that when she's at work, Kitty is absolutely beautiful.
And then one day, as Kitty's trowel makes its way through the soft earth, something happens to quite literally cause Kitty and Emma's peaceful world to crumble down upon them:
Kitty finds a worm.
Kitty looks at it; its shape and form are familiar to her in a way that she cannot say. "What, are there no bugs here?" she says out loud as she stares at it, thinking. She searches through the garden but, save for the one she has just found, there is not a bee or a butterfly or a snail or a spider to be found; not even a slug.
A slug. Memories are stirred in the back of her mind, of searching for Michael and finding something else instead. But if there are no bugs in the garden, how did this one find its way here?
"Oh no," Kitty whispers, as the memories rush in and the terrible truth becomes apparent. "She's found us."
Cassandra Nova's laughter echoes through the garden, triumphant.
*
Before that. . . .
"Guilt," Scott says.
"Guilt about falling in with Shaw, becoming the White Queen, failing her students in Genosha . . . surviving." Scott lists the litany of her sins like some Greatest Hits list, hitting all the highlights and skimming over so many little, subtle things: the conflicts she's created, the people she's hurt, the students she's gotten killed.
"Survivor's guilt is incredibly powerful. The randomness of who lives, the responsibility towards those who didn't. . . . There's a voice in her telling she's evil, she's always been evil, that even Genosha was her fault."
Evil. Yes, that's what she is. The White Queen.
"And she thinks that voice is hers."
Nova?
Oh, come on, my dear. I didn't tell you anything you didn't already know, now did I, Emma?
"No!" Kitty's shout startles Nova, just a little, enough that her control weakens. That's it, Emma manages to think. Keep your promise to me, Kitty. Do what needs to be done. "Three years!" Kitty says. "Three years of horror this maniac stuck in my head and you're giving me an insanity plea?"
Time to concentrate, dear. Time is becoming a factor.
"Doesn't anyone care what she did to us?"
Do it now, Kitty. Pull the trigger and end this. Put an end to Hellfire, once and for all. Emma relaxes and embraces the inevitable.
Until Scott, of course, has to interfere. "Cassandra brought you here to open the box. What Emma brought you here to do is what you're doing now."
Kitty hesitates, and so with her last bit of strength, Emma shoves her mind into Kitty's, shows the child who and what Emma is, and why she needs to be put down.
*
Emma doesn't bother to change the scene; the tableau she and Kitty now inhabit within their minds is indistinguishable from their physical location, except for the absence of the other X-Men. Kitty still holds the gun in her hand.
Do it now, Nova's voice commands in Emma's mind.
"Katherine, please. I'm not strong enough. I can't fight her." What was the term Nova used? Bush league. "You have to do it."
But Kitty, being Kitty, turns away, unable (or just unwilling?) to give her even this much solace. "There has to be another way," she says. "We need to run. Or hide."
Hide. Emma reaches out with her mind and constructs a home for them, hidden deep within their subconsciousnesses, out of echoes of stories they both were told long, long ago: a place where maybe, just maybe, Nova will not be able to find them.
A flower garden.
*
Now. . . .
Kitty kneels over Emma Frost as she lies on the ground, diamond soaked in blood. "Come on, Emma," she says. "You can't give up. You're Emma Frost." There is a tremble in her voice, and her heart is pounding. "You don't even need to use telepathy to inspire lustful thoughts in the entire schools--students and faculty. You have less fear than fabric in your costume. You're the woman who still appears in my nightmares. You stared into the eyes of the Phoenix Force without blinking, took it into yourself, and still lived to tell the tale. You just beamed two years of hell and a few days of ecstasy into my mind and I can't decide if I love you or hate you for it. You're the White Queen.
"You are a vicious ice-cold bitch, Emma Frost, and there is no way in hell that you are going to let some bald psycopath get the better of you."
Emma smiles, weakly. "How you do go on, Katherine Pryde," she says.
Another round, then? As you wish, Emma.
Nova raises the gun, prepared to fire again, when a new voice breaks into the dreamscape: Scott's. If you can hear me, Emma, hear this: you can send Cassandra back. You have a choice.
Emma sits up and looks at Nova, her gaze hard as diamond. She reaches out and takes Kitty's hand in hers.
"Go to Hell."
The End