She was a slave. Less than dirt. A mere plaything for her betters. Four arms, and two legs, she was meant to carry heavy things, and when she got old enough, breed. Another cog in the machine that were the Rhyne people. A species that looked more bug than humanoid.

All she knew was death. No parents to take care of her, she was raised by her grandmother. An old being that lived long past her prime, but was still considered beautiful. Men desperate for her attention, her grandmother was popular, allowing the girl to pass notice. 

That was until she was older. Then one day her grandmother’s clients broke in. Taking the meager amount her grandmother had, they used her how they wanted and turned to the girl. Before they could though, she had awoken. Power coursed through her and she burned them all to ash. 

Her hate unfathomable she burned everyone to ash. All of her people until the planet was a burning husk of what it once was. The girl happy with the outcome came to another planet. This one far nicer they gave her everything she desired. Worshipping at her fight she wanted for nothing. That was until one thought they could steal her power, like it was some mantle to pass from one to the other. 

She burned them as well. Everything and everyone. So long she travelled the cosmos, until she drifted away to nothingness. 

—

She was the princess. Her life hers to control she spent her time learning how to rule. Learning how to be exactly who her father needed her to be. All until the day the debt came due.

Sold to a far away land she wasn’t herself when she burned the convoy to ashes. Scared and lost she wandered through the deep desert, fearful of what she had done. No one she knew could call fire, move things without touching them, or fly like she could. Becoming a vagabond she eventually found her way home. But her father was angry at her, he tried to beat her, but nothing touched her. Instead he burned, leaving the princess to rule in his stead. 

War an ever present threat to her home, when it got bad, she would join the fray. Killing all in her path until they worshipped her. The Phoenix. Her namesake, the bird that would always rise again. 

—

She was death incarnate. Trained to kill since she could draw breath they had taken everything from her. Her identity, fear, will, and most of all her drive. Ready to end her existence with a word from their leader she faced her enemies without worry. That was until one skilled enough showed up. 

He was a man far taller and bigger than her. Faster than anything she had seen before she was pushed back and back. The estate destroyed a piece at a time as their battle raged. And for once in her life she felt something. A deep burning inside of her that made her no longer the machine they wanted her to be. 

Engulfed in flame she and the man became one and she knew their reign would be eternal. 

—

“Gay,” I mumbled watching the two weird blob things make love. Able to watch her thoughts each of these women had thought like a normal person. With feelings and histories, but right then I couldn’t understand why the Phoenix Force had infected such a being. Each of the women, or female variety beings had been strong, and from different planets, but these weren’t hot to me at all.

 
“Come on Phoenix Force, at least infect people that are attractive,” I mumbled as I wandered through the darkness. Each step brought new memories, and I understood one thing. The Phoenix Force liked to infect women, and they were typically badass in their own right. Powerful, with strong goals and drive, I saw the fun Nix that had begun to reveal herself on Chandilar during the Arin’n Haelar. 

“Where is Dark Phoenix though?” I mumbled. These women had hard lives, yes, but that was life. I kept expecting to find some serial killer version of her, but was left disappointed. Instead the lives of the Phoenix merely used their powers for their own gain. Hurting those that got in their way, and maybe a few going overboard, but ultimately very light compared to what could happen if a dude had these powers. 

Like looking into windows of the soul I continued to wander until finally I found the bright white section of this house of memories. Losing all sense of everything around me I stepped in to find Mr. Sinister staring at me. 

—

“Ohhhh,” he honked excitedly, his voice like that of someone whose vocal chords couldn’t decide whether to make the voice low or high pitched. “You are back.”

“Fucking creepy fucker,” I mumbled, watching the memory. I doubted he could see me, since I felt like this was a memory, but his reaction made me remember why I didn’t want to mess with the guy/thing.

“Tell me what you think of my creation,” Mr. Sinister said, stepping back. I frowned but moved to watch what he had been looking at. 

A clear glass tank, it was filled with a blue liquid. Inside was the form of a ten year old girl. Naked as the day she was born, or created, it was obviously my Delilah.

“Do you like? I finally cloned my little birdie,” he said next to me. As if we were two colleagues admiring work. “She is able to take much more of the Force than my Madelyne. Able to grow to my specifications, she will be able to control it more easily as well.”

“You are one sick fuck,” I said to myself. 

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “They will be perfect for taking on Apocalypse.”

“Can you actually hear me?” I asked, still not convinced.

This time he didn’t answer, Instead he looked at the floating girl. Mumbling to himself as he began to play with his very exposed nipples. He wasn’t naked but his nipples were showing from under the leather vest. 

“All three of you will be part of my plans. One ready for when the other falters. My trinity,” he said, his eyes widening. “Stronger together? Perhaps. But three can become one, and I can see an end in sight. One where my children can continue on. So much to plan, so much to do,” he said, a red lipstick covered smile splitting his lips as he giggled.

Instead of following I stared at the clone of Jean Grey. In the same room and vat I had found her in, for all I knew she was part of some master plan by Sinister. A sleeper agent to take on the Apocalypse, and maybe others. I was sure relinquishing her to the X-Men was part of his plans, but I seriously doubted her getting kidnapped by Space Pirates was among his scope of possibilities. 

“Gotta save her,” I said, turning around. She was too innocent for this place. Too perfect in every way to let her be corrupted by the Phoenix, Jean, or Sinister. She was my Delilah, and I would be damned if I let some weird stone corrupt her. 

I continued walking. This white light all of Delilah’s memories, there weren’t very many. Time at school, her short but apparently memorable time with me, it wasn’t long until I was at the orange wall again. 

“Orange is Jean, Black is Phoenix, and white is Delilah,” I said and began to move along the wall. Through weeks of her memories I came to the black wall again. Then headed back, trying to find the intersection of all three, like some weird mind Venn Diagram. It took time, but I eventually found it. A spot where the black was on my left and the orange was on my right. 

Feeling around the floor I finally found her body as the Mind Gem came into my perception. The massive spiritual energy was now like a beacon clutched in her hands. Moving my own to grasp it I felt nothing. As if it wasn’t really there. Unsure what else to do I got closer to her. My eyes focused on her form I was finally able to see her rather than the orange, white, and black all around me. 

“Delilah!” I yelled, but she didn’t stir. Her own haki connected to the Gem, I wasn’t sure what was going on or what to do. “Delilah, come out of it!” I yelled. “I have my memories back. I remember you now.” 

Unsure what else to do I looked from the stone in her hands to her face. She had a deep frown creasing her lips and she was sweating profusely. Jerking now and then like she was having a nightmare I did the only thing I could. Releasing my Nen I grasped the Infinity Gem in her hands and was pulled inside. 

—

“Come on, you can do it,” I cheered her. My hands on hers we gripped the padded mace as we tried to whack the moles as soon as they were above the board. 

“I’m trying,” she said through a laugh as she let me take control of our attack. Getting each as soon as their heads breached the hole, the game let out sirens as we got the high score. Spitting out a long line of tickets she laughed and rubbed her ass against my crotch. 

“Careful, Delilah. I might think you’re into this sort of thing,” I teased hesitantly. 

“Oh I am,” she said, releasing the mace and turning around to face me. My arms inadvertently wrapping around her she smiled at me wide as her freckled cheeks dimpled. I opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it. Instead I did what she wanted and kissed her. 

Her hands moved up to my face, moaning with the kiss as she pressed herself against my front. My dick digging into her unbidden it was a good way to end the date, and I was ready for the next step. 

Pulling back, she bit her lip as she stared at me with love. Something I didn’t think she completely understood yet. 

“Are you ready?” I asked. 

“For what?” She asked, still biting her lip as her hands moved to my arms. Squeezing the muscles I could tell she was distracted. 

“For the next whatever this is,” I said with a shrug, letting her explore. 

“What are you talking about?” She asked, confusion on her face. 

“You know, this whole test or dreamscape, or whatever,” I said.

“Weston I-” She cut off, then looked at nothing in particular. Her haki soaring she grabbed her head and began to groan as she dropped to the floor. Taking her shoulders I eased her down, unsure what was happening as we usually disappeared by this point. 

“Weston, what’s going on,” she grunted out as her fingers pushed into her temples trying to relieve a headache. 

“We aren’t actually on a date,” I said quickly, hopeful she would remember this time. “I’m pretty sure we are stuck in your dreams. Right now you’re on the floor of the Shi’ar throne room. The Majestrix or Shadree or whoever made you use the Mind Gem, probably to kill the bad guys attacking them. I’ve spent the last few hours or days trying to pull you out of this things fuckery.”

“What? I thought…date…” she got out. 

“No, we are stuck in your mind. First I was some prince saving you from a dragon, then we were rival gang leaders in some weird musical version of Romeo and Juliet, and now at the Barcade,” I said. “Delilah, you are hallucinating. These things aren’t real. Your mind is all over the place, you need-”

“Human, shut it,” A deep voice said from her lips. I didn’t move, rather than Delilah looking at me, one of the faces of the many versions of the Phoenix stared at me.

“Weston,” Delilah pleaded, fear in her eyes.

“Weston,” Jean’s voice said. Her face getting older.

“Delilah,” I said. “You are in control, you need to learn to stop from-” 

I cut off as I was thrown into another memory. This time it was one I knew. The moment she was kidnapped by the Andromeda’s and held in the cell for months. Watching it rapidly I tried to push out of it, but it was too strong this time. 

Around the point I was supposed to come in and save her though, I didn’t come. Instead she spent longer in the cell, all until eventually she was let out. The captain female captain of the Andromeda ship had been double crossed by who they were giving Peter Quill to. Her crew killed, it was only the captain, Peter, and Delilah left.

The three worked together to get off the planet and eventually met up with the Andromedas. Nebula a storm of anger and rage, took on the Spartax empire that double crossed them. Peter the only man in a sea of women pirates, lived in a yandere nightmare, unsure if the women were serious about eating him up. 

All the while Delilah became a real part of the crew. Learning from every female pirate as they travelled the galaxy together. Eventually she ran into me, but it wasn’t me. A full year after we were supposed to meet we ran into one another. Both on the opposite sides of a struggle on the planet. Me as Star Lord, her as Delilah the Dread. A name she picked up after her psychic powers became stronger. 

“What the hell is happening?” Delilah asked, but rather than the Delilah I had been watching, it was the real one. Standing next to me in the vast nothing, we were both standing on the planet as our future selves watched one another.

“Where the hell were you?” I asked, shocked she was actually there. Not in the flesh, but mentally with me somehow. 

“I was watching you…” she said, pointing at us as we fought. At some point her mask came undone and my own did as well, revealing who we were to one another. After that it wasn’t long until we were both naked and going at it. Some weird battle lust taking over us as the fight had worn on and explosions went off around us. 

“Oh my god,” Delilah said, her eyes and mouth wide as I impaled her. 

“Uhh sorry,” I said unsure what else to say. She wasn’t listening to me though, her attention was focused on the porno worthy sex romp in front of us. Two aliens from both sides of the battle noticed us and began to point weapons our way. The future Weston and Delilah waved their hands and both were thrown in different directions and the two of us were back at it. 

“How do I get her memories?” The Delilah next to me asked, unblinking as she approached the vision of our bodies. She bent down, resting her chin on her hand as she watched. 

“Delilah,” I said, unsure what else to do but laugh. After a minute I joined her, watching myself have sex. But actually was somehow the version of me from the other timeline I ventured into. The Weston that hadn’t been whisked away with Anne when she was summoned by the Shi’ar. 

“Damn, I must really like that,” Delilah said as she watched us do it. “Oh yeah, get her, Weston,” she cheered. “Right in the, daaang,” she said as she commented on the play by play. “Get rougher with her, she can take it. Oh fudrucker, she is.” 

“Oh my god, I love you,” I said, shaking my head as a few happy tears came to my eyes. 

“You love me?” She asked, perking up, finally pulling away from the show. I opened my mouth, but really didn’t have a response. Either stuck in her mind for so long, or starved for some human contact after six months, I didn’t know. I just knew I wanted to protect her. 

As if she could read my thoughts, love burst from her and she somehow grabbed my arm. Getting closer she rested her head on my shoulder as she watched us do it. “How come we never did that?” 

“You were a little innocent,” I said. 

“Not now,” she said, her eyes wide as she mentally took notes. “You can use that hole? Woah. I’m like really good at this for some reason.”

“Delilah,” I said, but could only shake my head. We stayed there for a long time. Watching as we did it. Eventually they fell asleep at the center of the battle, snuggled up to one another as fire fell down from the skies. 

“What is this?” The Delilah next to me asked. 

“I think its a timeline I went to,” I admitted. “A part of it I hadn’t seen.”

“How’s that?”

“I went to the future,” I admitted. 

“You did? How was it?” She asked. 

“Bad,” I admitted. “So I’m trying to make it better.” 

“I know,” she said as if she had some otherworldly knowledge. Maybe having seen her own visions as our minds were pulled into the gem. I wasn’t sure, but didn’t really care. We knelt quietly as our other selves slept. Then eventually our crews looked for us. Me with the Guardians, her Andromeda pals. 

Which of course led to another fight, until we reigned everyone in. Both sides going to opposite sides of peace negotiations Delilah and I met up again every now and then. Always together and longing for one another. Peter Quill eventually escaping the Andromeda’s he joined my crew, we handled drama on his own alien home world, and Delilah finally quit the Andromedas. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” I eventually said as Delilah joined me in a sex romp with my own alien harem. 

“Oh my god,” Delilah said. “You sleep around a lot.” Not offended, just amazed. 

“Sorry,” I said for future me. “It just tends to…happen,” I said, embarrassed. 

“How do you handle so many? Kitty said you’re supposed to have one boyfriend, but I didn’t know you could have more than one girlfriend,” she said, watching us have sex again. 

“Stop please,” I said, not expecting any of those, but deep down knowing it would happen. I wasn’t sure if this future self had lost his memories as well, but either way we were back to our old ways. “Can we get out of here, please?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I was just along for the ride.”

“I know,” I said, turning to face her. My hands on her shoulders I admitted, “I’ve been wandering around a little and saw a lot. Did you?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking away then back. “I didn’t like much of what I saw.”

“Well, I would ignore it, Delilah. You are, you,” I said. “No matter what it took to bring you into this world.” She opened her mouth, then closed it. Instantly tears in her eyes she began to sob, crying into my spectral chest as I felt her haki finally accept what she had seen about Mr. Sinister.

It took a long time, but the sorrow she felt subsided and the scenery around us shifted. Rather than some future memory, it was a more recent one. Delilah was on my back as I carried her around London. She stared at us, both with stupid grins on our faces as we walked into the music shop. No words said, we watched as we found love songs, all to end up on Hey there, Delilah. 

“This was where I was born,” she said eventually.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Lets get out of here, okay. Do some more living of our own lives.”

“Okay…how do we do that?” She asked. 

“I don’t know,” I said again. “I have this skill called Nen. I was able to coat my body in it to fight against the Mind-”

“Can I learn it?” She asked, perking up. 

“Uh yeah, why don’t we-” Instantly we zoomed away, but instead of Delilah’s mind we zipped to a new world. The world of Hunter x Hunter. I was sitting down in front of my teacher Qiress. 

“Nen is ethereal and….” She continued explaining.

“Whose that?” Delilah asked, pointing at the woman as she spoke.

“Qiress,” I said slowly, surprised we were there. “How are we seeing this?”

“I don’t know,” Delilah said with a shrug. “I think I’m understanding this power a little better. Maybe a little help from my Phoenix self, but either way it’s cool. Where are you?” She asked, looking around the opulent world. 

“A…nother planet,” I tried, surprised I could say the words. “I am able to trav-” I cut off, unable to speak. 

“What?” She asked. 

Since I couldn’t answer I instead led with, “My mutant power is fusion. I can fuse with alternate reality versions of myself.”

“Ohhh, that’s why you have so many cool powers,” she said. “Crap, I didn’t catch that.” The vision rewinded and we watched Qiress explain Nen again. 

“Are you seriously trying to learn?” I asked, unsure how long this would take. 

She shrugged as she answered. “I’m pretty sure time is moving super slow outside. Besides, you got to root around my memories. I feel I should dig around yours a little.”

“Alright,” I said, kind of enjoying the refresher from Qiress. “Just don’t judge me when I sleep with this girl.”

“Oh really?” Delilah asked. “Can I fast forward to that part?” She asked, raising her hands, actually intrigued by the opportunity.