[2009 – October]
Smelling the spices in the air as I appeared in the small gangway that led to the entrance of our place in the Hellion Mansion, I knew that Jean had already started to cook dinner while I had been away.
My clothes still soaked, I took off my black sneakers before I moved to enter the living space, my eyes finding Laura who lay on the soft couch and shared her pillow with Arya, both of them watching some animal documentary while seeming very focused on its contents.
They still turned to me as they saw me enter, Arya happily hooting in greeting while Laura raised a brow in curiosity and adorable confusion, though it was Jean who greeted me first.
"Elijah, are you back?", she called out, her head popping into view from behind the refrigerator. Though her eyes widened quickly as she looked at me.
"What happened to you, my love? Why are you all wet?", the beautiful redhead questioned with minute shock as she approached.
She had an apron tied around her waist while wearing a pair of loose light-blue jeans that sat low around her hips and a dark-green knitted sweater that emphasized her delicate shoulders and bust. Her hair was done up in a loose bun with two discreet silver earrings adorning her beautiful small ears.
I was about to answer her but then she gasped and froze in her approach, her expression changing to shocked awe as she looked at me.
"Your presence, you- … The psionic energy around you … You are a telepath?", she spoke, the last part of her words leaving her lips in somewhat of a whisper.
I wasn't surprised that she had noticed the changes in the psionic energy around me since I had stopped shielding my presence to some extent now that I could manipulate the ambient psionic energy with relative ease.
We had had a mental connection before so she had been able to sense my presence but I hadn't stopped isolating my existence from this dimension like I had done now, in part at least.
Not to mention that she was the inheritor of the Phoenix, the nexus of all psionic energy of all realities. To even try and believe that she couldn't figure out that I had learned to control the psionic energy around me was an absurdity in itself.
Though I was sure that her question about my being a telepath was just a guess on her part since the reaction of psionic energy around me was very similar to a telepath's.
Still, I extended a silver of mental strength as I answered with my mind: 'I am now, Firefly.'
"How?", she asked, still shocked, "Did you use your powers?"
"No, I just learned it.", I answered truthfully, truly voicing out my thoughts this time.
…
'He just learned it …'
Jean's thoughts were reeling at that straightforward revelation, her mind brought to its limits as she tried to comprehend Elijah's words.
She, better than anyone in the world, understood how incredible her love was. Even in comparison to the strongest mutants, Elijah was like a giant humoring an infant by simply being part of the comparison.
His immense potential had turned into strength so fast that no one could even guess what he was capable of anymore. And his focus and incredible discipline made him an existence even whole nations would not want as an enemy, not to mention individuals or independent organizations.
But this was different even measured by that rather ridiculous scale, even compared to her own unique situation.
Jean could feel the gentle flow of psionic energy as it curled around his form like a demure lover, acting to please him while the presence of his mind remained still largely obscure.
Before this, the ambient psionic energy had always shifted and moved in response to his emotions when he had not intentionally concealed his presence but there had hardly been any sense of connection or 'liveliness' to it.
The psionic flow had seemed lifeless before but now it had this sense of 'vitality' that only an active mind that was innately connected to psionic energy could bring out – a telepath, in other words.
Jean had never seen this phenomenon somewhere else and she almost could not believe that Elijah had managed to forge such a strong connection to the psionic flow in just a few hours, his affinity with psionic energy being something that she could not comprehend.
Jean knew that she herself was a bad measuring stick since she was the inheritor of the Phoenix's power so if she had to guess, she believed that her love may have already become a telepath comparable to the likes of Xavier, his attunement to psionic energy rivaling even Emma's, who was by far the greatest and most talented telepath that Jean had ever met.
No matter which way she looked at this, Jean knew that simple 'talent' couldn't begin to describe what Elijah had accomplished since even she herself struggled to control psionic energy like he apparently could, despite her truly unrivaled potential in this field.
Pride, love, and a good portion of amazement held her heart captive as she looked at Elijah in all his soaked beauty, an echo of deepest approval ringing out faintly from within her soul, the origin being no doubt the cosmic entity that lived through her.
Shaking off her daze, Jean accepted Elijah's accomplishments with a fond smile and a surge of warmth in her veins, knowing and promising herself that she would follow behind no matter which place he strived to reach. After all, she belonged with him as much as he belonged with her.
The fact that they both were now telepaths only served to strengthen this belief.
…
Jean seemed to leave her daze behind as she shook her head a bit and looked me over again, a soft smile on her lips: "But why are you wet, my love?"
"I fell into the Atlantic.", I replied straightforwardly, shrugging my shoulders.
Seemingly speechless, Jean struggled for an answer for a moment, her visible confusion causing her to subconsciously curl her nose and draw in her eyebrows while she frowned. Her expression was almost helplessly adorable and I couldn't help the slight smile that appeared on my lips.
I could hear Laura snort in amusement and saw her clasping her mouth shut with her hands while her eyes danced with laughter.
"You're fooling around, weren't you?", Jean eventually asked, trying to sound stern and serious but I could see the hints of amusement flickering in her eyes, a smile pulling up the corners of her lips.
"I was.", I answered, leaning forward as I placed a smiling kiss on her lips.
Finally unable to hide her own smile, Jean leaned into my kiss for a moment, uncaring for my soaked clothes that were dripping ocean water everywhere, her hand coming up to brush back my wet locks.
"You should get out of your wet clothes and take a quick shower, my love. At least to wash away the salt, you taste like a lick stone for pets.", she suggested with a giggle, biting her lower lip after she got a taste of my 'savory' lips.
"Someone's got secrets. You hanging around with sheep and bunnies behind my back and sharing snacks?", I asked back, putting on a serious expression that caused her laughter to ring out like a clear bell.
Having spent what felt like the better half of a century in my own mind, learning how to manipulate and use psionic energy, this simple laughter felt like rain in the desert and it had me smile softly as I saw her eyes light up with innocent joy.
Still smiling, Jean gave me a nudge, pushing me towards the bedroom after another kiss on the cheek: "Go now, you're leaving puddles everywhere."
"Aye aye.", I said, doing as she asked me to as I moved into the bedroom and from there directly to the bathroom before getting out of my wet clothes.
My coat went first, along with a black hoodie and followed by a simple grey button-down shirt, a pair of black jeans, socks, and my underwear. It was casual wear with a hint of formality given the shirt, a combination that I found to be rather comfortable at times.
Stepping into the shower, I just quickly washed off the ocean water and shampooed my hair before finishing up. I could have done that same with a simple thought but I was done with acts of superhuman nature for the day, the exception being drying my coat since I wanted to wear that tomorrow.