Uncanny X-Men (2012 series) #18

5 X-Men gained portions of the Phoenix power and set about turning the world into an utopia with the help of other X-Men. Their PR person Kate Kildare ponders how it all fell apart and reminds us of how her press releases put a spin on recent events:- Sub-Mariner wrecked Wakanda and lost his Phoenix power to the other 4. Colossus and Magik lost their powers too so the total power is now split between Cyclops and Emma Frost. But that power is corrupting their psyches.

The pair are alone on the new Utopia Island floating in the sky. Magneto comes to visit. Emma offers to kill him but Cyclops opts to talk to him. Eric says he's come round to Storm's view that they've taken things too far. Scott says he knows what Eric's thinking but he *knows* he's building a better future for mutants and he'll do whatever's necessary to see it through. Magneto comments on how like the old him he sounds. Scott replies that the difference is he's *succeeding*.

Illyana and Peter Rasputin are without their Phoenix powers but she still manages to escape the Avengers with him by teleportation to a 'Phoenix farm' in Siberia. Colossus is wracked with guilt over things they did but Magik isn't. She says the power amplified their flaws as well as their good intentions. Her brother says he'd hoped the Phoenix power would help him control his current Juggernaut side but instead it just amplified the pain he could inflict as the avatar of Cyttorak. Illyana confesses that despite his love for her he could never really understand how her Limbo-born power felt and so (in #542 of the previous series) she *deliberately* offered to become Juggernaut herself knowing that her brother would take the burden instead and learn what damnation felt like. Piotr says she's insane and she *thanks* him for understanding. He turns into Juggernaut and attacks her. She manifests her flaming Soulsword but jumps around via her stepping discs until she finally 'ports away completely.

Cyclops and Emma Frost are now fighting the combined Avengers and X-Men in Avengers Vs X-Men #11. But at the same time Emma and Scott are sharing a meal in a white room in their minds. He congratulates her on the quality of the steak. She says it's from the memory of a vagrant in Paris who stole it from a Michelin-starred restaurant, and the sauce is blood from a cannibal serial killer whose brain she cauterised. He asks her if she ever worries about what's happening to them but she says she leaves that sort of thing to him.

At this point they experience headaches because Charles Xavier has just taken over their material brains. But they shrug it off because they're much bigger than that. Accompanied by flashes of battle scene they continue their conversation. Scott is disappointed that all the X-Men have turned against them and Emma suggest they don't deserve the utopia they're creating for them. She thinks she and Cyke would be better off destroying all life on Earth and starting afresh but he says that's a bad idea but he can't quite remember why. Emma confesses that she thought about having an affair with Namor and the thought was mutual so they did it mentally while Subby was destroying Wakanda. She offers to share the experience with Scott but he's not happy.

Emma comments that the battle isn't going well and they need to fully unleash the Phoenix power no matter the consequences. Scott proposes a toast 1st and they drink. We see in  the real world that Cyclops attacks Frost. And in the white room Emma fades away. Scott's glass now contains Emma's Phoenix flame and he drinks it down ...

... to become Dark Phoenix at the end of AVX#11.