The Danger Room was quiet again, its steel walls humming as if holding their breath. Aurora stepped back onto the training floor, her heartbeat already picking up. Last time, she'd proven she could copy Logan. Just one.
This time would be different.
Cyclops' voice came from the booth above. "Aurora, today's test is about control. You'll face three opponents. Don't think about winning. Think about balance."
Logan's growl rumbled beside her. "Translation: don't blow up the room, kid."
Aurora forced a shaky grin. "I'll… try."
The walls shifted, and holographic projectors cast three figures into reality: Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. Not simulations of faceless drones—them. The real deal.
Storm's eyes glowed white as lightning danced at her fingertips. Nightcrawler crouched low, tail swishing, a predator waiting for the jump. Colossus stood unmovable, metal skin glinting in the light.
Aurora swallowed hard. One was hard enough. Three…
"Begin," Cyclops ordered.
---
Storm struck first, a bolt of lightning arcing down. Aurora's body jolted in response, her mind latching onto the image of Storm. Electricity answered her thoughts, sparking across her hands as she redirected the blast away.
Then—bamf!—Nightcrawler appeared behind her. Reflexively, she pictured him, felt the flicker of teleportation in her bones. Before Kurt's fist could land, she vanished in a puff of sulfur, reappearing clumsily a few feet away.
Her body ached. Too many layers. But Colossus was charging now, a wall of living steel. Aurora clenched her teeth, pictured him, felt her skin harden, her muscles lock into that impossible density—just in time to withstand his blow.
The impact rattled her to her core, but she stayed standing.
Three powers. Three reflections.
---
But holding them burned like fire in her chest. Storm's winds tugged at her breath, Nightcrawler's bamf left her dizzy, Colossus' weight dragged on her muscles. She stumbled, her body flickering between states like a broken projector.
"Aurora!" Miles shouted from the sidelines.
Her vision blurred, Storm's lightning threatening to lash out uncontrolled. The room shimmered with unstable energy.
Xavier's voice broke through, calm but firm. You are not their shadow. You are yourself. Their power is only borrowed—yours is the will to weave them together. Don't drown in them. Command them.
Aurora forced her breath steady. One at a time. No… not one. Not chaos either. Harmony.
She let go of the panic. She thought of the powers not as storms or teleportation or steel—but as instruments. A symphony waiting to be played.
When the three X-Men lunged together—lightning, teleportation, unstoppable charge—Aurora didn't break. She bent with them, weaving their powers into a single, fluid rhythm. A bamf-step to dodge, a spark to counter, steel skin to endure.
For the first time, she wasn't overwhelmed. She was leading.
---
When the session ended, Aurora fell to her knees, trembling and drenched in sweat—but smiling.
Storm knelt beside her, touching her shoulder gently. "You carry a tempest inside, child. Today, you did not let it carry you."
Nightcrawler offered his usual soft grin. "And your bamf was not so bad for a first try."
Colossus gave a short, approving nod. "Strong."
From the booth, Cyclops' voice carried a rare note of pride. "She's learning."
Miles ran to her side, beaming. "Learning? She was amazing!"
Aurora looked up at him, her breath still ragged. "I didn't… lose myself this time."
"No," Xavier's voice came, warm and certain. "Today you found yourself."