Chapter 114 – 'The Cycle'

[2009 – September]

Three days had passed since my first day at Midtown High, which was how most students called it as Midtown Science High School was a bit too wordy to fit into pretty much any sentence comfortably.

Being preoccupied with school, the shadow of the conversation Jean and I had with the Professor seemed to fade a bit. In the afternoons and evenings when it was just the two of us, she still seemed a bit delicate and lost some of her liveliness, even though we weren't any less intimate with each other.

Those were some quiet hours we spent with each other, huddled together on the couch where I spent a few long moments caressing her back and sides while leaving soft kisses on her lips, neck, and shoulders until she either fell into a light sleep or her longing for more got the better of her.

I also spent some time playing the piano for her every day, and while this made her a bit teary-eyed almost every single time, she loved listening to me play and I loved playing for her.

School itself was nothing special, though I enjoyed spending some time with the guys from Xavier's during recess. The time during the class was mostly spent on learning new languages or training with my barriers on a small scale. I was still trying to move my barrier into another dimension and my success rate was rapidly increasing thanks to my persistence.

After my introspection a few days prior, my heart had settled down greatly and I had a much better understanding of myself. I was no longer troubled about what to do with Peter, and any other events from my memories I might encounter.

It wasn't that I had decided to just not interfere in general, I had just gained some inner peace when facing those decisions. For the most part, I still had no intention of lending anyone a helping hand or benefiting from the events that were sure to happen, as every involvement would taint me with 'karma', for the lack of a better word.

'The Cycle', the book the Ancient One had gifted me, covered many such concepts. There were only about a hundred and fifty pages in the small booklet and in the first half, things like karma, fate, destiny, luck, misfortune, providence, etc. were discussed.

The explanations were short and written in a simplistic style but it was clear that the author had a profound knowledge of such concepts in the way he introduced them.

Still, it was the second half that truly resonated with me, and this was also where the author connected the different concepts and brought up a few other examples as he talked about the intrinsic harmony that governed reality at large, or as he called it – The Cycle.

The balance between creation and destruction, yin and yang, bad luck and good luck, fortune and misfortune, action and reaction, life and death, without the first, the latter could not exists. Together they formed a cycle that ensured the continuation of reality, of life.

If there was no bad luck, how would one measure good luck? The necessity of the former begets the latter. In the same sense, for something new to exist, the old has to perish.

It was a bit hard to understand at first but after pondering about it some more, I began to see that those words carried truth in them, especially after I had realized the danger my own power posed to me with the risk of corruption it brought with it.

Every action had its consequences, and even though some might not be obvious at a first glance and even be untraceable, there was no escaping from them. In a sense, this was karma, fate.

The Ancient One had mentioned the same. Just because something seemed inexplicable, didn't mean that it truly was. Every crime had its perpetrator and every debt its debtor.

I had understood this concept on an instinctive level, which was also the reason for my initial aversion to involving myself in the events I remembered from my last life. The same was true for my insistence on repaying the favours I owed to others.

I might not have been able to articulate very well, why I did not want to have any part in those conflicts, but I had known since the beginning that I would not be able to escape the consequences of doing so, no matter the power I wielded.

Now after reading 'The Cycle', I felt as if I could see things with a clarity I had not known before. As if I could see myself with more clarity.

I also understood that my love for Jean and my affection for Emma naturally had their own consequences, as I could never ignore their plight which might force me to take part in the conflict that brewed between humanity and mutantkind in the future.

In fact, this was already the case with Apocalypse. Still, I accepted this without complaint. Being with Jean made me happy, and I cared deeply for Emma, she was my family. If I had to pay a price in exchange for this happiness, I would do so gladly.

So, even though the last three days had been calm and seemingly uneventful, I felt as if I had undergone an incredible transformation. It was as if I now saw the world with a different pair of eyes.

That wasn't to say that I was not surprised as I sat in the office of the student counselor, finding myself eye-to-eye with a busty auburn-haired teacher, who had curves that definitely belonged with a supermodel.

"I am glad that you could make it, Elijah. And let me first tell you that you are not in trouble.", the Black Widow greeted with a friendly, disarming smile, "I understand that you just transferred here, and are an emancipated orphan, which is also the reason the school thought it best that we had a little talk. Just to make sure that everything is alright, and maybe find ways in which the school can help make things easier for you."

I had expected SHIELD to pop up eventually, though I was still impressed at their ability to arrange for Natasha to take up the post of the second guidance counselor in the school, barely half a week after I had gotten here.

It seemed Fury was determined to get someone to assess me so that he could decide on my threat level, though he might not have much of a choice in this matter too. I was a new Omega-class mutant after all, which in itself brought much-unwanted attention.

The big players were most likely rather anxious to find out what I was capable of so that they could make up some countermeasures in case I decided to go on a rampage or simply opposed them.

Observing Natasha's actions and words closely, I had to admit that she was a remarkable actress and that she would have most likely fooled any other teen, especially considering how sexily she dressed.

Her tight white blouse inevitably drew one's gaze to her chest, while her skirt seemed more like a second layer of skin with how it clung to her hips and thighs even while she sat in her chair. Her flawless skin, beautiful auburn mane, and fake glasses would have most likely thrown any other teen into a daze.

Thankfully, I wasn't a teen, at least not mentally. My mind was also much stronger than a normal human's and Body Supremacy made my body immune to the debilitating effects of puberty on my rationality.

Natasha was undoubtedly very beautiful but my eyes saw deeper than just her physical form.

With my Extrasensory Perception, I could perceive things that most others would miss. For me, Natasha's mesmerizing cobalt blue eyes were truly a window to her soul.

Hollowness and pain, that's what I saw. Devoured by her own guilt and afraid of her own past, Natasha felt 'broken' to me. Where others might see the incredible spy, I could see the fragile girl that she tried to leave behind.

She hid it well but my knowledge of her past and my inhuman senses couldn't be fooled by a baseline human like her, even if she was enhanced in some ways by a serum.

I normally didn't focus my senses on others like this as I considered it a violation of their privacy, not to mention that I usually didn't care about others enough to watch them so intently.

The Black Widow though didn't approach me with good intentions, otherwise, she would have been honest about her identity, which meant that she was free game, similar to Selene.

I also had no desire to play some kind of game with Fury where I pretended to not notice it when he spied on me. I was neither interested in doing so, nor did I have the time for it. Scheming and plotting were Emma's thing after all, not mine. I enjoyed more 'direct' conversations.

…

Natasha didn't know what it was but the way Elijah Frost looked at her with his deep green eyes, made her supremely uncomfortable.

The complete lack of emotions in his gaze was unsettling as he watched her with a calm that she had never witnessed in a person this young. She had the absurd feeling that he would still look at her with this impassive gaze, even if she pulled out the gun that she had strapped to her inner thigh and pointed it at him, as if nothing she could do would cause a ripple in his eyes.

After listening to her words, a few moments of silence spread between them as he continued to look at her with a gaze that made her feel exposed in a way that she could not explain.

Suddenly though, something changed. The lush green of Elijah's eyes seemed to be devoured by shadows as something dark and incredibly dangerous stared at her through his eyes.