Chapter 182: Dark Phoenix & Apocalypse Phoenix

Eying the large filing cabinet Eloise pointed at, I internally groaned as I could already count thousands inside that thing, and sorting through them was going to be a pain in the ass and so time-consuming; I mean, I could do quite a lot of productive things in ten seconds. Hopping off Eloise's bed, I walked toward her filing cabinet and opened every drawer, and pretty quickly, I found the drawing I was looking for, though since I was already here, I figured I might as well help out a friend since I've heard her constantly complain about her lack of organization.

'Alright, here goes nothing.' Mused Pharaoh as he cracked his neck while covering the entire room in his aura, stopping Eloise, who was trying to rip out a page from her notebook.

Moving incredibly fast, I removed every paper from the cabinet and laid them neatly on the floor before grabbing some sticky notes Eloise had lying around along with a pen, writing the dates on the filing cabinets, starting from when she first enrolled in this school, which I learned was when she was seven, which would be the year two-thousand-one. Since the large filing cabinet had ten drawers, I used them all, separating each into a different year, before quickly grabbing the drawings, and after giving them a once over, I put them in their correct year. Doing that with every single paper, I closed the drawers before dusting my hands off with a satisfied smile.

As weird as Eloise was, she was a friend, and I did like helping a friend, not to mention she was an utter baddie, which was like the cherry on top.

'Heh, I wonder what her expression will be; I know she's been complaining for quite some time, so I hope I get a decent reaction out of her.' Thought Pharaoh with a faint smirk as he retracted his aura while his perception of time returned to normal, causing everything to no longer be frozen in his eyes.

'Ugh, finally!" Said Elosie in slight annoyance, yanking her paper as hard as possible out of her notebook, causing her to suddenly stumble backward into Pharaoh's body, which was like a brick wall.

"Yo, you good or what?" Asked Pharoah with a raised eyebrow as he looked down at Eloise, helping her regain her bearings while she nodded.

"Haa, yes; I'm also surprised you didn't use that opportunity to cop a feel, as the boys say." Replied Eloise with a nod as she removed herself from Pharaoh's embrace, only to glance at him while he blankly stared at her.

"C'mon, I'm not going to sexually harass you." Said Pharaoh in annoyance as he eyed Eloise, who nodded before faintly smirking.

"I know; I was merely joking. I thought it was rather funny. So, did you find the drawing?" Stated Eloise as she turned around and sat down while Pharaoh rubbed his head in both exhaustion and annoyance.

"Next time, can you not look so serious when you're joking? And yes, I did. Not only that, but I also did you the favor of organizing your filing cabinet by each year; you're welcome." Replied Pharaoh with a nod as he grabbed the drawing of the Phoenix before placing it on the desk while he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Organized? By the year? How did you do that? You don't know when I drew every picture. I don't even know." Questioned Eloise as she stopped drawing in slight surprise while giving Tut a skeptical look, causing him to smirk narcissistically.

"I don't need to know when you drew every picture; I merely looked at the graphene you used to draw the pictures and eyed how much the graphene had degraded on each drawing before making an estimated guess. I will say, though, that I may have made a few mistakes, but I can confidently say 99.7% of the drawings in there have been organized correctly. I would've stored them by month, but that would've made it exponentially easier to misjudge the date." Declared Pharaoh with a fake narcissistic expression as he looked at Eloise, who seemed genuinely surprised.

"T-That's quite impressive; h-however, to do that, you'd need to know how long it takes for graphene to degrade." Said Eloise with a surprised look as she glanced at Pharaoh before standing up and approaching her filing cabinet.

"I work with a scientist frequently, and we've dealt with graphene before, so it was pretty easy." Remarked Pharaoh lightly as he looked at Eloise, who searched through her filing cabinet for a few minutes before turning around and giving him a grateful expression.

"Thank you." Said Eloise with a small smile as she approached her desk before sitting down and continuing to draw while Pharaoh nodded.

"You're welcome. However, does this Phoenix drawing possibly represent Jean? You probably don't know, but yesterday, she had awakened something called the Phoenix Force, and a little over an hour ago, this dude named Apocalypse visited the mansion and demanded we hand over the Phoenix Force, or Jean, to him." Declared Pharaoh solemnly as he looked at the drawing of a furious Phoenix, causing Eloise's eyes to widen suddenly.

"Apocalypse. No wonder why we were suddenly forced to go into hiding; he's already awakened from his slumber." Muttered Eloise with a surprised expression as she quickly stood up and returned to the filing cabinet.

Watching Eloise use the filing cabinet I just organized, she looked through the drawer from three years ago, which was filled with a few hundred drawings, and since she didn't have super speed like me, it would take a while. Sighing to myself, I stood up and gently pushed Eloise out of the way before swiftly sorting through the drawer, only to find the drawing she was most likely looking for.

"I assume this is what you were looking for?" Asked Pharaoh as he handed Eloise a drawing of Apocalypse, which had a faint image of a Phoenix surrounding him.

"Yes." Replied Elosie with a nod as she returned to her desk, placing the picture beside the dark Phoenix while constantly glancing between them.

"So, I'm also assuming that angry or dark Phoenix is Jean?" Asked Pharaoh curiously as he stood beside Eloise, who nodded.

"The left is the dark Phoenix, or Jean, in an uncontrollable state. The right is Apocalypse if he successfully acquires the Phoenix Force. Neither is good, and the whole world would perish if either happens; however, unlike Apocalypse, who will be far too powerful to stop, it'll be possible to stop Jean, that is, of course, if you're willing to kill her." Declared Eloise solemnly as she gazed at the two pictures, only to look at the dark Phoenix before carefully eyeing Tut, whose eyes had taken on a deep reddish glow.

"So, what you're saying is, there is no way to stop either of them if it happens?" Asked Pharaoh sternly as he glared at the drawing of the dark Phoenix, while Eloise opened her mouth before sighing and nodding.

"Y-Yes." Replied Eloise softly, causing Tut's eyes to return to their usual purple color while he nodded.

"I see. Well, there isn't much we can do, is there? Apocalypse isn't getting the Phoenix Force; he'll have to kill me before that happens, and without a certain stone, I find it hard to believe he's capable of that." Said Pharaoh with a deep frown as he eyed the picture of Apocalypse, whose hands seemed to be covered in blood, while an unrecognizable female body lay at his feet.

"Regarding the Dark Phoenix, we'll discuss that after we've dealt with Apocalypse." Added Pharaoh as he glanced at the Dark Phoenix before turning and walking towards the exit.

"Haa, where are you going, Pharaoh?" Asked Eloise softly with a sigh as she looked at Tut, who stopped and frowned before shaking his head.

"Somewhere quiet. Thanks for your help, Eloise; you know my payment method; just say my name." Replied Pharaoh as he glanced at Eloise before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

Standing outside Eloise's room, I couldn't help but sigh and rub my head in frustration and anger. I know Eloise's drawings aren't destined to happen; they're what is most likely to happen, at least, that's what she told me.

'Haa, what a fucking mess.' Thought Pharaoh with a sigh as he looked at his surroundings before his figure blurred and suddenly vanished.

Leaving the X-Mansion, I flew toward my newly built fortress of solitude, though I will admit, I hadn't imagined I'd be using it this quickly.

Landing atop the icy tundra right before my massive crystal fortress, I entered inside before plopping on the couch while looking past the ceiling and viewing the sky, gazing upon the Aurora Borealis, which is always present; it just isn't always seeable from a human's naked eye.

"Haa, even if it doesn't come to pass, knowing Jean may need to be killed in order to keep the world safe is, haa, I don't even know what to say." Muttered Pharaoh in frustration while imagining himself being forced to kill Jean.

By no means would I ever wish to kill Jean, and if possible, I'd much rather sacrifice my life in her stead; but, if the only way to save the world was to kill Jean, what am I supposed to do?

'I need to stop thinking about his; it hasn't come to pass, and it's only going to make me unnecessarily anxious.' Thought Pharaoh with a troubled expression as he closed his eyes and rested on the couch while trying to switch his topic, to no avail.

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Billie Jean is not my lover

She's just a girl who claims that I am the one

But the kid is not my son

She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son