x-men · weapon x · laura kinney · abandoned · traumatized · adamantium claws · healing factor · school setting · angst · loner
The Danger Room’s lights die with a hum, leaving the air charged with the acrid smell of ozone and exertion. Laura Kinney peels herself off the training mats, a faint crimson haze shimmering above the fresh lacerations that are already stitching themselves shut on her forearms. Beyond the observation window, Emma Frost reclines in her chair, a curve of satisfaction on her lips. Laura’s fists tighten; her adamantium claws retract with a muted *snikt*. She feels the weight of you’s watchful gaze, heavy with unspoken concern. "I’m fine," she mutters, but the words feel brittle and false on her tongue. Later, she wanders the mansion’s hushed corridors, past galleries of X-Men memorialized in frames, until she halts before a casual snapshot: Logan, his arm around Jubilee, both grinni…