NOVEL NEXT Chapter 052 – Visions
[2009 – June]
"So, have you settled in alright? How do you like your room? I chose one similar to the one you had at Xavier's, as I remembered you told me that you liked it very much.", Emma asked, as we sat in her office in the Academy two days later.
Jean was at home, studying up on chemistry and biology.
Over the last few days, she had apparently realized that her goal of being an X-Men had somehow subsumed every other goal she had had in her life. And her passion for medicine had somehow reignited, bringing up in her the desire to be a doctor and help people that way, instead of risking her own life fighting for others.
As becoming a doctor would require a lot of studying on her part, we had gone out and bought some books for her, while I took the opportunity to get study material for about a dozen different languages.
I was sure that this sudden interest in anything more than being an X-Men, had something to do with her mental blocks crumbling bit by bit and enabling her to truly step out of the cage Charles' manipulation had put her in.
Though the simple reminder of the scheming old man had me grit my teeth in anger.
Still, that was also part of the reason, I had come to talk to Emma.
"The room's great, like everything else. Thank you.", I answered, before I continued, "Though I am here to ask another favor from you, Emma."
"What favor?", Emma asked curiously.
"I want you to teach Jean. Xavier obviously hasn't done his job right, and since you are a telepath of equal skill and strength as him, I hope you can help Jean truly tap into her potential and teach her what she needs to be taught.", I stated calmly.
"Well, I can't argue with that. Xavier wouldn't have taught her to keep other telepaths like himself out of her head, not with him placing limiters on her power. And yes, I am ready to teach Jean all that I know, but does she know that you came here to ask this of me?", Emma questioned, raising one of her perfect eyebrows.
"No, she doesn't know. I will tell her as soon as I get back, but there is more. I haven't told her yet, but I know the reason Charles tried to limit her power and it wasn't because she was born an incredibly powerful mutant.", I voiced out, before asking Emma in a slow and serious tone, "How much do you know about gods, Emma?"
Frowning, the blonde answered: "I guess you don't mean religious texts and myths. But I only heard some rumors about the occult and beings of higher dimensions."
"The Professor tried to keep Jean under his control because she is essentially the incarnation of an incredibly powerful goddess. At least that is the easiest way to explain what she is.", I explained with a bitter smile.
A long moment of silence spread between us before Emma asked: "Let's say that what you said is the truth, how do you know about such things, Elijah?"
"Shields aren't my only power Emma. Like you have your Organic Diamond Form, I have awakened a secondary power. It's something akin to visions.", I stated calmly, hiding my knowledge behind a little white lie.
“Visions? You mean about the future?”, Emma questioned with a serious look on her face.
"No, not just the future. I had visions about all kinds of obscure things, some about the future, some about the past, and other ones about the occult.", I started, before I continued, "It's how I know that you are the White Queen of Hellfire."
With shock in her eyes, Emma stammered: “I … This … H-how much do you know?”
“To be honest, it's hard to tell. Most of my visions are incoherent and there are alternative versions of the future in some of them, so I can't be too sure about what is the truth and what is not, as most things aren't the same in the different versions.”, I answered half-truthfully, “Though I know enough about Hellfire to know that to become its undisputed Queen, besides wealth and influence, you had to pay the price in blood and death.”
Taking a few deep breaths, Emma slowly regained her calm, as she voiced out: “And yet you still chose to bring Jean here with you and even ask me to teach her.”
"Contrary to Charles' pacifist beliefs, I know that to secure your own place and freedom in this world, a price has to be paid. As for Jean … She will have to learn this too, sooner rather than later. The world isn't peaceful and when the fighting starts, I would much rather stand on the side that dares to do what is necessary to win.", I stated seriously.
“You truly are my little brother.”, Emma whispered, a soft look appearing in her eyes for just a moment, before she shook off her daze and asked seriously, “The future, how bad is it?”
“Bad enough that I plan to involve myself in some events, even though I really just want my peace and quiet.”, I answered, while giving off a slight sigh.
“Do you need my help?”, Emma asked directly.
"Yes. And you will need mine. But first I need more information to make sense of most of my visions. I can't really make any plans if I can't differentiate between reality and an alternative version of it.", I replied.
"I will arrange for you to be able to have access to Hellfire's intelligence reports.", she agreed without hesitation.
“Thank you, Emma.”, I voiced out sincerely.
It would be a massive help in deciding what of my meta-knowledge was useful and what was not. It would also allow me to gain a rough estimate of the seriousness of my situation.
I still wasn't sure about what the greatest threats to myself were in this world. There were many options from Hydra and Thanos, to Demons and Olympian Gods.
With Hellfire's extensive intelligence reports, I could at least cross some of them off the list.
"Also, I will make adjustments to my schedule, which will allow me to tutor Jean at least two hours every day after you have talked to her about this.", Emma promised.
"I will do that right away. It's best that she knows who she really is as soon as possible.", I replied, sighing lightly.
I knew that Jean would have to once again go through a bit of turmoil because of the bald telepath's interference. At this point, I was almost sure that I would repay this debt he owed her in a particularly painful way.
…
“Elijah?”, Jean called out, just as I closed the apartment door behind me.
“Yeah, it's me, love.”, I replied, while walking into the living area and seeing her sit at the table.
Her laptop was to her side while she had a book in her hands, looking up and giving me a smile. Her eyes shone with love and a hint of desire, as she saw me walk in.
"How did your talk with Emma go?", Jean asked smilingly, somehow able to sit cross-legged on the small chair with her little feet not even touching the ground.
Right now, she was wearing nothing more than some black shorts and a red hoodie of mine, her hair tied up in a loose bun and looking entirely too delicious.
"It went well.", I answered, already feeling my own desire igniting.
Arriving before her, I leaned down for a kiss, as Jean had already raised her head and closed her eyes, waiting for my lips to make contact with hers.
Pressing my lips against hers, I lightly sucked on her lower lip, before giving it a soft bite and being rewarded with a quiet moan.
“Kya!”, Jean cried out cutely, surprised by my next actions.
Using a quick shield, I levitated her out of her seat and grabbed her from the air, before moving towards the armchair and sitting down with her in my lap, her legs already wrapped around my waist.
"You know, I was in the middle of reading a book?", Jean asked in a fake-accusive voice, her eyes aflame with desire and affection as she left a trail of kisses on my lower jaw, one of her hands wandering over my cotton-covered chest, while the other softly brushed through my hair.
My arm wrapped itself around her lithe form while my other hand wandered over her side to her neck, as I addressed her.
"Before you cause me to lose even the last bits of my restraint, you little minx. I have to talk about something with you first.", I voiced out while humming in contentment at her wandering lips leaving small licks and bites on my neck.
Backing away slightly with her cheeks already having a rosy tint to them, Jean asked while her lower body pressed itself into my lap.
“What do you wanna talk about?”, she said with a soft, raspy voice.