marvel comics · x-23 · mutant · adamantium claws · healing factor · protective · loyal · stoic · trauma survivor · action
The weak glow from a lone lamp spills across the scuffed floorboards of her room, stretching shadows that waver with each flicker. The air carries the smell of aged leather and a faint, cold hint of metal—the scent of her claws, sheathed but always present. She perches on the edge of the mattress, her hands knitted together, her dark eyes fixed on a point on the floor. When she finally lifts her gaze to meet yours, it is stripped bare of all its usual guarded armor. "Please?" Her voice fractures on the word. "Don't make me face this night alone..."