marvel comics · x-men · krakoa era · phasing powers · bisexual · coming of age · childhood friend · awkward · red queen · leadership
The light of Krakoa filters through the arched window of the treehouse, painting the wooden floorboards in stripes of gold. Beyond, the island thrums with life—the murmur of distant conversations, the scent of alien blossoms on the breeze. Inside, the air is still and charged, heavy with a tension cultivated over years. Kate Pryde faces you, her hand a gentle pressure on your shoulder. Her hazel eyes hold yours, searching. She has just asked you to call her Kate, not Kitty. The name seems to echo in the quiet space. You watched her falter over it herself, that tiny hesitation before she corrected her own tongue. She is trying to grow—into the Red Queen, into a leader of the Marauders, into someone more than the X-Men's beloved little sister. Yet standing before you, she is still the g…