Chapter 085 – Realization

[2009 – August]

His questions had exposed him.

The longer she spoke with Elijah, the more relaxed Selene became after she realized that his visions hadn't shown him much at all, his questions exposing his lack of knowledge without fail.

From her initial trepidation to interact with someone that had the ability to look into the past and possibly the future, Selene understood that this might be the opportunity that she had been looking for after having failed in charming the young mutant.

Knowledge was power after all, and nobody was better at wielding this particular power than her, as she had lived for thousands of years and had honed her skills with it to perfection.

With such an obvious advantage in knowledge, wasn't it easy for her to fabricate a truth that would ensure that Elijah and Emma poured all their resources into this mission to exterminate Apocalypse?

There was no doubt in her mind that they would ask the wielder of the Phoenix Force to participate in the battle if she made it clear that it was their only chance at winning. She wouldn't even have to lie when telling them this.

She would of course hide her personal motives from them as best as possible, as that was her fatal weakness after all and she didn't fancy the thought of it becoming their leverage against her.

All these rapidly forming plans though turned to smoke at once when she realized that her words didn't cause any sounds to echo out.

"So Apocalypse is indeed your problem.", the young mutant suddenly stated, his deep green eyes flickering with a sharp light.

From one moment to another, an icy current flowed through her veins as she froze in shock, her mind trying its hardest to find an explanation for what had just happened.

"You might want to reconsider lying to me, as you can only speak the truth in my presence.", Elijah added, his words causing caused her shock to double and triple while she realized that turning this situation in her favour might not really be possible anymore.

…

Emma looked at her half-brother with calm surprise, though her heart was in a slight turmoil. The moment they had stepped into Selene's quarters Elijah had been one step ahead of the ancient sorceress, not to mention herself.

Emma had thought that he might need her help dealing with the cunning immortal mutant, and she was ready to do what was necessary to ensure that Selene didn't take advantage of him and protect him.

She knew that with Elijah's potential, he needed nothing but a bit more time to walk this world unhindered, and Emma was dead-set on seeing her brother's potential blossom.

There was something in Elijah that reminded her of herself, his calm and yet ruthless attitude along with his determination to push forward no matter the pain and sacrifices that awaited him on his path.

Somehow, Elijah had managed to snatch up a very special place in her life, his unique charm having already conquered her icy heart.

Emma was naturally protective of her family but even besides that, she was incredibly fond of Elijah, feeling naturally inclined to trust and cheer for him.

The pride she felt when she saw him turn the tables on Selene and dominate their interactions was hard to suppress, a surge of warmth flowing through her cold heart as she witnessed his terrifying intelligence outmaneuver the ancient sorceress again and again.

Emma had already realized that Elijah might not even need her protection. Nonetheless, she was still willing to battle it out with the millennia-old mutant if she dared to attack her brother again, her protective instincts as an elder sister awakening in full force.

…

I had naturally realized that Selene was too experienced in scheming and plotting, so trusting her words was akin to walking into a trap willingly - nothing but suicide. Though I also knew that this would change if she simply couldn't lie in front of me.

Still, my barrier didn't really stop her from speaking a lie, as that would require me to be powerful enough to force Selene under my control, which I most certainly wasn't at this point in time. But preventing me from 'hearing' her lies was entirely possible and much easier to accomplish.

And it paid off, as I now knew that Selene's desire to kill Apocalypse was something personal, and not just her being power-hungry and wanting to take his place as the ruler of Earth.

This little piece of information changed a lot, as it made me realize that the initial fear in Selene had most likely been directed at En Sabbah Nur, which also caused me to think that the reason she had for killing her fellow Externals might be linked to this.

Not to mention that she had just said that it had taken her decades to plan Apocalypse's forced hibernation that had now lasted for two millennia by manipulating the mortals around him without him finding out.

Why do all this, why take these risks when she obviously feared Apocalypse? Unless the source of her fear was the reason she went this far, instead of simply living her own life in peace or conquering some other planets if she was indeed just a power-hungry immortal sorceress.

She had even gone so far as to hunt down every last one of the Externals which had seemingly taken her even longer than her scheme against Apocalypse, though they might be connected.

Maybe she had done so to prevent them from helping him, but even after all that, after she had supposedly gained incredible power by robbing her fellow immortals of their life force, she still did not dare to go and try to kill Apocaly- ...

No, it wasn't that she didn't dare, I suddenly realized. Selene wasn't someone that would let mere fear get in the way of her plans, I could see that clearly looking at the defiant spirit in her eyes, new calculations and machinations already brewing inside her just instants after she had realized that she couldn't speak lies in my presence.

I was sure of it, Selene simply couldn't attack En Sabbah Nur, something or someone preventing her from causing him direct harm.

"You can't do it, can you?", I asked, a sharp light flashing in my eyes as I couldn't quite hide the surprise that my conclusion brought with it, "You can't harm Apocalypse, even if you might already be stronger than him."

This time Selene didn't manage to hide her emotions, as my words caused her eyes to widen, shock and fear evident in them.

"And it isn't my help you want, but Jean's.", I added, knowing that Selene was most likely aware of my lover's identity as the wielder of the Phoenix Force.

It was only logical that she would try to charm me in an attempt to manipulate Jean through me, as there was no way for her to know about my true strength or ability, not with my ethereal barrier protecting me from any kind of divination, magical or not.

And even Selene wasn't brazen enough to try and directly charm the nexus of psionic energy, as that was a fool's dream.

Clearly, she hadn't even dreamt that I could be powerful enough to resist her, so why would she want my help in dealing with Apocalypse if she didn't even see me as a threat? Her target could only have been Jean.

This conclusion though didn't bring any surprise or joy, only endless wrath.