Thunderbird || X-Men

Chapter 6 ~ Training Begins

"Now take these. Hold them outwards, away from your face." Erik told me, handing me two lightbulbs. I took one in each hand.

"Okay. Now what?"

"Turn them both on." He instructed, standing back and watching me.

"Easy," I said, turning them both on. "What's the point of this?"

"Try to turn just one on." He continued. I sighed.

"Okay." I tried to turn the right one on, but it didn't work, and I turned both of them on again. "Huh, lemme try again."

Erik was looking at me, smirking. Once again, both turned on. I was getting a little frustrated. I tried again, focusing everything I could into just one. It turned on for a split second but immediately shattered in my hand, making me yelp in surprise.

"Are you alright?" Erik asked me sympathetically. I nodded, calming myself down. "Do you know why it doesn't work?" He questioned.

"Why?"

"Because you are putting too much into it. You use the same amount of force every time." Erik beckoned me to him, pulling out another lightbulb from his pocket and placing it in my hand. "Plus you got angry." He finished.

He came closer to me, our faces side by side, looking at the light bulbs. He held my left hand and the bulb as far as he could away from our faces in case it broke again.

"Charles told me, and I quote, 'true power lies between rage and serenity' and when he said that to me, I didn't really get it. But he went through my memories, as one does, and gave me a piece of my past back to me." We looked at each other for a moment, our faces only inches apart.

"Obviously I can't do that for you. You'll have to do it for yourself." We both looked back at the lightbulbs in my hands. I stared through them, closing my eyes, trying to find the right headspace. I thought about my mom and the anger I felt that night. But also about my mom in general, and how much I missed her.

I snapped back, focusing on the bulb in my left hand. Erik must've noticed me in thought because when I opened my eyes, he had moved away from me to right in front of the lightbulb. Sudden fear hit me. If this bulb broke, he would get very hurt.

"Erik I can't do it with your face there! If it shatters, all the glass will get in your eyes and-"

"I have complete faith in you, Kayla." He said, grabbing onto my wrist gently so I couldn't move. My anxiety spiked suddenly. I looked at Erik, then the bulb, then the other bulb. I closed my eyes and focused. The place between rage and serenity.

"Well done!" Erik exclaimed, applauding me. When I opened my eyes, only the left light bulb was on. I sighed in relief that I didn't hurt Erik. I looked at the bulb, twirling it in my hands, then turning it off and giving it back to Erik. He nudged me on the shoulder.

"I told you so." He teased.

"I got so worried Erik, don't ever do that again!" I told him, smiling.

"Aww, you were worried about me?"

"Of course I was, you-" I gave him a playful punch on his arm. "Now let's get food, I'm hungry."

When we got to the kitchen, Charles was there making sandwiches.

"Perfect timing you guys, how was your first session?" He said cheekily, not looking up from his hard work.

"Pretty groovy I would say." I told him, sitting down at the dining table.

"And how did she do Erik?"

"I think she did well for her first time." He walked over to Charles, probably to help him. I tried to listen to what they were talking about because they kept whispering to each other. If they were talking about me, I hoped it was all good things.

"Hey, Kay!" Raven greeted me, taking a seat to the right of me. "How was training with Erik?"

"Good, we played with lightbulbs."

"Very romantic." She joked, getting closer to me.

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon Kayla, everyone knows he took you to see the sunrise early this morning. How romantic." I laughed awkwardly. "So do you got a thing?"

"A... thing?"

"A thing for Magneto?" She repeated, in a whisper.

"What? Do you mean Erik? No that's- why would- I don't-"

"Thought so." Raven teased, glancing over at Erik, who was walking towards the table, trying his best to carry three plates, all with sandwiches on them. He placed one in front of each of us, sitting next to me on the left.

"Raven, would you get the others and tell them lunch is ready?" He asked her politely. She looked at Erik, then at me, then back at Erik before getting up from the table and making her way to the rooms.

"Same time tomorrow?" Erik asked jokingly.

"Maybe not so early." I joked back, taking a bite of my sandwich. Erik did the same. It wasn't long before Raven returned with the others. They all took their sandwiches from the counter and took their seats, Sean and Alex playfully pushing each other to sit across from Erik and I. Charles eventually joined us, sitting next to Raven.

"Hank says he's gonna make me a special suit! Right bozo?" Alex told everyone, pointing to Hank at the end of the table. He coughed awkwardly.

"Yea, Sean too. I think giving him some sort of wings is a good idea."

"How will that work?" I asked Hank.

"Well, the idea is that the sound waves will carry him, pushing him upwards. He can glide that way if he has wings."
Everyone went silent.

"That's genius." Raven piped up. Hank turned all red at her compliment.

"Thanks."

I looked over at Erik, who was almost done. I got a bit lost in thought. Just the idea of being here, plus all of the friends I made. Plus Erik and Charles are the sweetest guys ever, and I was so thankful to have met them. But all this made me realize that I'm here for a reason. I'm not just training to control my powers. I'm not training just to schmooze with Erik either. We're going to end up fighting against Shaw. And what about after that? Will we disband and never see each other again? Will we become a superhero squad? I'd prefer the latter. I don't think I could ever part ways with these guys, especially not Erik.